The Water Wants You
by Akanesi
Summary: Continued from the last episode of Invasion. All Tom ever wanted was to co-exist and be free. But not even his own family sees this new world quite the same.
1. Sacrifice

Tom was just standing there, gazing out at the great expanse of water. He didn't hear Russell's call and only turned when he heard Mariel; she might be in danger. She wasn't though; and when Russell asked him what had happened he couldn't get the words out. What had he done? Larkin had been pregnant. What the hell had he done?

"What happened?" This time it was Mariel. He has to answer her.

"She… I couldn't… I can't… I didn't know what to do!"

He can see something in Russell's eyes. He knows. There's that kind of deadness in them that only comes associated with grief.

"No," Russell choked out. "She…"

"I'm sorry. I had to Russ."

Mariel still hadn't figured it out. She glanced between the two men, uncertain. "What did you do Tom?"

Tom turned back to look at the water. "I threw Larkin in."

* * *

"You bastard." Russell spat the words, but he was so calm. It was a technique that Tom had used to intimidate hundreds of people, but he had never seen just how terrifying it was. To see the collected hate in a man's eyes but not having him springing towards you, trying to rip your throat out. Fighting he could handle, but this? This was like seeing himself in the mirror.

Tom took a step back.

"No." Mariel positioned herself between Tom and Russell. "No, Russell. Nothing is going to happen!"

"After what he did to you?" Now Russell shouted and Tom felt himself relax. It was as if he knew that Russell was no longer a threat. "And now he's done it to Larkin!" He directed his next words at Tom. "What? You decided one wife wasn't enough for you? You thought: who would I like to hurt the most? And of course whoever I pick has to be human. Wouldn't want any of your lot to be angry with you! So you picked Larkin! You…"

"She'd been shot Russell." Tom saw the anger drain out of Russell's eyes and he found it strangely comforting that Russell didn't for one second think that he'd shot Larkin.

"What?" Mariel cut in. Russell didn't seem to be there any more. He just looked defeated. First he'd lost his ex-wife, almost lost his children and now he'd lost Larkin and his baby. Tom had to feel sorry for him. He knew just how Russell felt.

"What happened?" Mariel asked. And there's that same question again, Tom thought. He couldn't answer it though. He couldn't tell them that a school kid had shot Larkin with _his_ gun.

"These guys broke into our house," he told Mariel. "They had guns and threatened to hurt the kids if I didn't give them mine. There was a struggle and a gun went off and…" Tom faltered, glancing at Russell. Whilst he'd been talking to Mariel, Russell had taken three steps, three exact steps, closer to them.

"Why did they pick your house Tom?"

"I don't know."

"What were they looking for?" Mariel had taken a step back and was staring at Tom with a knowing look in her eyes. She placed her hand on his arm and Tom felt suddenly lighter. She didn't blame him.

But Russell hadn't finished. "Who were they looking for Tom?"

"Me."

"So it is your fault. If you weren't what you are then none of this would have happened!"

"No, it wouldn't." Tom was angry now. After everything he'd done over the past 24 hours. After everything, Russell still said it was his fault. The man was grief-stricken but Tom couldn't see that right now. "You just don't get it do you?" This time it was Russell who took a step back. But the anger in his eyes remained and Tom wasn't going to stop. "You just don't get it! If I wasn't what I am, this town would have been overrun by now. People would be killing themselves and their children. We'd have an army of hybrids right now turning all humans and killing the ones who won't. What you don't get is that I was the one who saved you all! I've given up everything for the human race because I thought we should be able to co-exist but after everything… After everything you still think I'm the bad guy because I'm the hybrid. You're no better then Szura because all you want is to get rid of us!"

"That's not true! It's…"

"No, it's exactly true." Tom glared at Russell, taking in the man's shoulders slumping again.

Mariel stepped forward. "Tom… stop."

"Oh, you're on his side now?" Tom was beyond caring. He wrenched his arm away from Mariel and backed away.

"No, I'm not. It's just… look Tom." She pointed at Russell. He was kneeling in the sand, silent tears coursing down his cheeks. Tom froze. He looked out into the water where Russell was staring. Lights were shimmering everywhere. None were close to the shore because they were of no interest. Two hybrids and a human weren't worth going for. Tom took a deep breath and glanced down at the sand at his feet.

"I…"

"Tom!" He was cut off by a scream from Mariel. His head shot up but she was fine. She was staring out at the water and… Russell wasn't kneeling on the sand anymore. "Tom!" Another scream and this time he ran to her. She pointed. Up to his knees in water, Russell was wading out. He turned to look back at them and Tom met his eyes.

"No." The utter certainty in his own voice gave Tom strength. He threw Mariel back on the sand so she wouldn't follow him and then dove into the water.

He knew the lights wouldn't hurt him but he could see them heading towards Russell. One human in the water was a whole lot different from one human standing on the beach. The new lights that had been thrown down in the hurricane had had their food source taken away and they were fighting to get to Russell, not caring about making another hybrid, just caring about feeding.

"Russell," Tom shouted. "Just stop." He was physically exhausted but he pushed his body further. What's the use of this 'upgrade' if it doesn't do things that humans can't? He could see the first two of the lights roaring towards Russell but the man didn't stop. If anything Russ was swimming towards them. No! "Russell. You aren't…" a wave washed over him, drowning out his words. He just held his breath till it passed by and kept on swimming.

He was about ten metres away from Russell when they reached him. They pulled him under together but Tom knew they wouldn't share. He dived under the water, not even pausing to take a breath. He knew his limits and he knew he didn't need air.

Russell was screaming and thrashing in the water as the two orange creatures fought around him. At this rate he'd be dead before they got to him. Tom swam with ease over to him and tried to untwist him from the two orange arms that held him tight. He felt something connect with the side of his face but under the water it held no real force. He glanced up and saw it was Russell's fist. What the hell?

"Get away!" That would have been what Russell shouted if he could be heard under water. Tom saw him mouth the words and lash out again. This time Tom caught his fist and pushed it gently back towards Russell's body. He knew he could cause Russell real damage, especially under the water, but he wasn't going to let that happen. He was meant to be saving him, not killing him.

He saw something change in Russell's eyes as he continued to tug at the orange arms. He had about a second to turn his head before both of the orange monsters smashed into him. Pulling him down further into the lake they wrapped their arms around him so he couldn't move. Russell was released and Tom saw him struggling towards the surface before a third and a fourth of the creatures leapt onto Russell's back and the man tried in vain to take a breath.

He felt one of the suckers that the creatures carried on the ends of their arms puncture his skin. He had truly believed that they wouldn't hurt him. But he was just one of many, especially now. They didn't need him. No honour among thieves. Just like Robin Hood.

* * *

Mariel was distraught. She had seen first Russell go under and then Tom. She knew that Tom wouldn't need to breathe, but Russell would. Two of the creatures had pulled Russell down, and after a while, two more had joined them. She wanted to go and help her husband rescue Russell, but every time she got near the water another orange light would appear in front of her and she knew that if she went into the water she would be attacked.

Suddenly the water didn't look so inviting. Before she had been drawn to it, hypnotized by it, like something out of a dream you never want to let go of. But now it was full of dangers. Something inside her was telling her to leave the beach, to run away; to leave Tom and Russell and save herself. But she wouldn't do that; she couldn't. She wouldn't be the woman running away whilst the men take care of everything. She was more than that.

She stepped into the water.

* * *

Tom was being pulled further and further down into the dark depths that these creatures inhabited; where their light couldn't reach the surface. There were hundreds of them, thousands even, swimming everywhere; their tails flowing out behind them like a mantra. They were hypnotizing him almost as badly as the water had during those first few months after his plane crash. He had wanted to be near and in the water all the time and it had only gotten worse.

But one day it had just stopped. That was what he was talking about when he said that Mariel had kept him alive, because the water had been the thing that had helped him and no one else but Mariel was there. She had been his hope when the water had betrayed him and he would be hers when it did the same.

He would be hers!

* * *

Russell struggled, but he was getting weaker. The two new monsters were fighting around him like the previous two had. He didn't know why but he knew Tom had tried to save him. But he didn't want to be saved. He wanted to be with Larkin again and if that meant giving up his humanity then that was a small price to pay.

He had seen Tom being dragged down into the water and fighting his captors. Why had that happened? Weren't the monsters and Tom on the same side? Weren't they the same thing?

He could feel the arm of the third monster getting looser whilst the fourth's arm tightened. They were fighting over him, he realized. He was becoming more and more confused. Why didn't they just turn him? Why would they care who made him into a hybrid?

* * *

Mariel felt something clamp down on her leg. When she glanced back she saw it was one of the creatures. It tugged at her and she felt it saying that she shouldn't go into the water; that it wasn't safe. She pulled her leg from its grasp and kept swimming. A second later she felt both her legs being pulled to a stop. It was the same one but this time four of its arms were holding her back.

She heard the voice resonate again, saying that she was too important to risk. "Why?" She shouted, or rather gulped as the water surrounded her. The creature seemed to turn its head but that was impossible. It didn't have a head! Then it turned its body and, with her legs still held tight in its grasp, headed back to shore.

* * *

Tom was fighting like a shark. He tore at the limbs that were attaching themselves to him and puncturing his skin. He even bit a few and found that they retracted at once. But he was surrounded by the creatures, and as soon as one of them fell away from him another two joined in.

*Why do you fight us?*

Tom froze, which gave the little bastards time to latch onto his free arm. He started to struggle again.

*Stop!*

The shout was so loud it made his head ring and his vision fuzzy. He would have shaken his head but they were clamped everywhere. He relaxed, automatically following his instinct as he'd learned to do. The creature on his head suddenly wasn't there any more. He twisted round and saw it slowly retreating back into the dancing orange lights that surrounded him.

Next one of his legs was free and then an arm. He looked upwards, searching for a way out of the water, a way to Mariel and Russell. There was none. He couldn't even see the light of the sun.

* * *

"No!" Mariel screamed as she was thrown onto the beach. She looked up in time to see the orange creature slithering off into the water. Why wouldn't they let her help? Why was she too precious to risk?

She stood and gazed out over the bright expanse of water. It was alive with orange lights and she saw the one that had pulled her back to shore join the others, becoming one among many. She couldn't see Russell or Tom. They were gone; all she could see were the lights and they shone of danger.

Why did this have to happen? Why couldn't Russell have waited? She understood though. He wanted to protect his wife and baby. Tom would have done the same for her. Only… he didn't did he? He was standing at her side the night the water took her and he did nothing. No, he didn't do nothing, but he didn't help her. He didn't stop this from happening. But she still loved him. She had fallen in love with the changed man that had come out of the water, and he had stayed by her side whilst she changed and others were leaving their loved ones all around them. He may have understood what was happening to her but he had stuck around. She had been his hope, and the moment when she'd seen the rose in his locked room she had known. They'd be together forever.

* * *

All of the creatures had retreated but Tom was scared to swim upwards. That was when he heard Mariel scream. "No!" And that was all he needed. And maybe it was the fact that he was swimming towards the shore and not Russell that made the creatures leave him alone. They parted for him, twisting and turning; showing him the way. He knew that if he tried to break through their ranks or swim back to Russell they wouldn't think twice about attacking him again and holding him down here for good.

But swimming back to Russell never even crossed his mind. All he wanted was to save Mariel, to see that she was ok. That was all he wanted.

* * *

Russell couldn't see Tom anymore. All he could see were the lights, and the third monster had all but released him. A great howling broke through the water. It must have been truly loud if he could hear it under the water so clearly. The third monster, or it could have been the fourth; they all looked the same, released him and fell through the water to the light below. The other moved closer, and Russell suddenly was terrified. Had he really swum out here wanting to save Larkin? Or to become one of these things? It was too late to save his wife, but if he could be like her everything would be alright. The monster wrapped another arm around him and turned him so he was facing away. It seemed to know he didn't want to get away and he suddenly lost the need to breath. The ache in his chest vanished and the fogginess around the edge of his vision receded. He could clearly see the monster now that would soon turn him into a hybrid. He probably wouldn't remember what it looked like. He hoped he wouldn't remember his feeling when Tom had said that Larkin was in the water. He really hoped that much.

* * *

As Tom emerged from the water dripping wet, he saw Mariel sitting on the beach, her knees drawn up to her chest, quietly sobbing.

"Mare!"

"Tom!"

She was ok. She was running across the sand towards him and he recognized the look in her eyes. It was exactly the same look he had had and felt when he'd seen her unconscious and naked after the lights had taken her. One of utter fear and relief. Without even knowing how it had happened he met her half way up the beach and was hugging her. She was crying into his shoulder and he was on the verge of tears himself.

"Are you ok?" he whispered.

"Yeah, I tried to go in after you but they wouldn't let me."

He nodded, pulling her closer. "I know. I know. It's all going to be ok."

She pulled away from him so she could look him in the eyes and noticed the puncture marks in his neck. "Oh my god, Tom, what happened?"

"They stopped me too."

She nodded and glanced out at the water. "Do you know what happened?"

Again there was that question. "No, I don't. I didn't see but they wanted him. They were hungry."

Mariel put her hand over her mouth as she glanced back up at him.

"I'm sorry Mare." The first tears slid down his face.

"It's all right. Come here."

Tom fell against her shoulder and fainted from blood loss. The darkness, when it came, was a blessed release.


	2. Monster Like You

The room swam. It wasn't that disconcerting as the world spent most of the time swimming when he was under water but it shouldn't be happening above. The colours were dancing but the shapes seemed flat. He wasn't in the hospital; he was at home. He could see his bedroom ceiling and hear Mariel.

"Mare?"

"I'm here."

"What happened?"

"You passed out. I took you home." He felt her gripping his hand and grasped it back. The room was still fuzzy but things were coming into focus. He saw Mariel, Dave, Kira, Jesse and Rose gathered around him. Mariel was sitting on the bed by his side, Dave was standing at the foot, Kira was sitting in the chair, Jesse was standing by the window and Rose was curled up next to him sleeping.

"You all look like you have hurricanes in your heads!"

That drew a laugh from Mariel and Kira but Jesse and Dave were angry. He closed his eyes and inwardly groaned. Russell!

"Where's my dad?" Jesse asked. Tom could see he was fuming with rage and the only reason that he and Dave hadn't attacked him yet was that he obviously couldn't move.

"I don't know. I'm sorry Jess. They took him."

"So first you throw Mum into the water, then Larkin and then Dad."

Tom closed his eyes. It was just a repeat of the conversation he had had with Russell. Kira stood up suddenly, drawing everyone's attention. "Why can't you just leave him alone? He didn't do this on purpose."

"I did to Larkin." They had to know. He couldn't keep denying his involvement.

"You had to. She was dying." Mariel also stood and Dave glanced at her.

"But where's Russell? Did Tom push him in too?"

"Why do you keep blaming him?" Rose had been woken up by Jesse's shouts. "He didn't hurt mum and he saved Larkin."

"We think!" spat Dave. "What if she turns up like that diver or Kira. She'll die anyway."

Tom forced himself into a sitting position. Kira was too far away to help him, and Mariel knew that he had to do this on his own. "But at least this way there's a chance. You would have all sat back and watched her bleed to death on my floor. You weren't doing anything were you? I did what I had to do because no one else would take the responsibility." He saw the shame in Jesse's eyes and when he looked at Dave the man wouldn't meet his gaze. He turned to Mariel. "How did we get back here?"

"Jesse walked to us. I took you in one car. He took the other."

Tom nodded. "And neither of you saw anything but the lights in the water." They both shook their heads. "Ok." Tom slumped back down onto the pillows. "We can go out there tomorrow morning and look for them."

* * *

Mariel waited outside her and Tom's room as they all filed out. "Take Rose up to bed Kira. She can share your room."

"Alright," Kira replied. She gave Dave and Jesse a look of disgust as she passed them on her way to the stairs.

"Dave, Jess, could I have a word?" Mariel asked.

"Yeah, sure."

"Sure Mom."

Kira had paused at the foot of the stairs. "Mariel…"

"Go to bed Kira. Take Rose." Mariel waited until Kira and Rose had disappeared before turning to Jesse and Dave. "You should be ashamed of yourselves," she hissed.

"Why? That guy's a monster."

Jesse looked at Dave, shocked. "Dave…"

"No, look what it's done to your mum and your dad, Jess."

Mariel took a step towards Dave and slapped him clean across the face. He reeled back. "Do not call Tom an 'it'. He is my husband and don't you dare tell Jesse that I've changed."

"You have though." Jesse whispered.

Mariel took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "If Tom had not done what he did to Larkin she would certainly be dead. And Russ followed her into the water."

"Oh my god." Dave glanced at the room behind her where Tom was.

"Tom tried to save him but was almost killed himself. How do you think he got those puncture marks on his neck? They didn't want him taking away a new soldier." Mariel had been about a second away from saying food source but she couldn't do that to Jesse.

"But…"

"Russell didn't want to be saved!"

"What? No way." Jesse started to back away. "Dad wouldn't do that to me."

But Dave was still looking at Mariel. She could see tears glistening in his eyes. "Jess, his wife and baby were in there, man. Of course he went in after them."

"No. He wouldn't do that!" Jesse turned and ran towards the door.

"Jesse," Dave shouted and slammed the door shut.

"Let me go."

Mariel ran over to them. "You can't go Jesse."

Jesse suddenly stopped struggling and turned to look at her. "I'm not going to go anywhere near the water. Why would I want to be like you?" He turned back to the door and heaved it open. Dave tried to stop him but Mariel placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head. Her cheeks were covered in tears.

* * *

"Kira?"

"Yeah, Rose?"

"Why is everyone worried about Larkin and Dad? They'll just come back like Mom won't they?"

Kira thought about the scars on her body, about how like Russell she had walked willingly into the water because she wanted to be like her father and how he'd explained that she never could be because of her heart valve. But she couldn't burden Rose with this. She couldn't tell her that her Dad and step mom might not come home but be washed up dead on a remote part of the beach.

"They'll come back."

"Then why is everyone shouting at Daddy-Tom?"

"They're just worried about the baby."

"But if they're going to come back why are they worried?"

"Well, you know how parents are don't you?"

Rose smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

"Then you know they just worry because they want to." Kira smiled inwardly at that. It was something Jesse had told her. Oh Jesse. He was just so angry about his Mom and Dad that he didn't see how much pain he was causing everyone.

"Where are you going to sleep?"

Rose's words jolted Kira back to reality. She had tucked Rose up in her bed and there was only room for one. "I'll sleep downstairs, ok?"

"Ok." Rose nodded.

Kira smiled and left the room. Once outside she leant against the wall. She wanted to call Lewis and see if he was all right. He'd left with the two boys to take them into custody. She hoped nothing serious would happen to Brett. He had just lost his Mom, and his Dad and brother were hybrids. The police station was probably the only place he would get a bed tonight.

She knew though that her first duty was to make sure her family was ok. She would call Lewis tomorrow. And she couldn't wait to see the look on her Dad's face when he found out they'd kissed. Smiling, with at least one happy thought within her, she went downstairs.

* * *

After everyone had left the room Tom had peeled off the bandages Mariel had put on his wounds. They weren't that bad. They were no way near as bad as his daughter's had been because the creatures hadn't had time to really hurt him and it would be of no value, killing a hybrid.

He was worried about Jesse. He had heard the conversation that he'd had with Dave and Mariel and had heard him storm out. Jesse's last words must have torn Mare apart, and all he wanted to do was to comfort her but he couldn't move. Sitting up had taken far too much strength and the punctures on his legs had started bleeding again. He hoped they healed quickly. He didn't need to be invalided at the moment. Not after what had just happened, and certainly not during what was coming.

* * *

"Are you alright?" Dave asked. Mariel had turned away from him and was obviously crying.

"Mariel?" He looked up to see Kira running down the stairs and backed away, his hands in the air. He didn't know why he did it; it just seemed like a good idea when a teenager was charging at him ready to save her step mom.

"Kira, I thought I told you to go to bed."

"There's only room enough for one in the bed. What's wrong?"

"Jesse took off." Mariel had started to cry again and Dave wondered if he should go and help.

"Kira…"

She glared at him.

"I'm sorry, Kira."

"I think you owe that apology to my Dad." And she stepped aside so he could get to Tom's room.

"Ok." This wouldn't be pretty but if they were going to find Larkin, Russell and Jesse then he'd have to clear the air with Tom.

* * *

Mariel didn't have the strength to try and stop Dave. If Dave wanted to apologize then he wouldn't want anyone else in there. The slightest sound of trouble and she would go in there but as long as things remained quiet she knew Tom was safe.

"Mariel?"

"I'm ok Kira. Come on, I'll get you into Rose's room since you two seem to have swapped. Just help me set up the spare room for Dave first ok?"

"Ok."

"Good." As Kira helped her get blankets and a pillow from the cupboard all she could think about was if Jesse did go near the water? Kira had because she wanted to be like her Dad but what if Jesse did because he wanted to be like his Mom and Dad? He said he wouldn't but she couldn't be sure; she didn't know.

"Mariel?"

"Yes."

"Where's Jesse gone to?"

"I don't know."

"What if he goes to the water?"

"I don't know. I really don't know."

* * *

Tom tried to stick the bandages back on and look innocent when he saw the door opening. Mariel hated it when patients fiddled with their dressings and even after everything that had happened she'd still stand in the doorway with her hands on her hips giving him the eye. Actually he thought that would probably be good. It would remind him that, no matter what happens, she would always be there for him.

But it was Dave who stuck his head round the door. "Hi Tom. Can I…?" he gestured wordlessly at the room.

"Sure Dave." Tom hardly knew this guy except for reading his blog about aliens. "What do you want?"

"I..." Dave took a deep breath. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry. You must have heard the argument out there."

"Yeah, I did."

"Well, I didn't know that was how you got them." He pointed at the uncovered wounds on Tom's body. "I guess I never thought Russell would choose Larkin over his kids."

"He didn't. He believes he'll come back."

"Whoa, wait. 'Believes'. What are you talking about?"

"Apology accepted Dave."

"Wait a second…"

"You got somewhere to sleep?" cut in Tom. "Cause I know Mare will set you up if you ask."

"Tom…"

"You took your bandages off!" It was Mariel at the door and she had her hands on her hips giving him the eye. He smiled at her.

"Sorry babe, I just wanted to see them."

Mariel rolled her eyes and walked over to the bed. "Haven't you seen enough bullet holes to know what a wound looks like?"

Tom smiled at her again and then turned to Dave. "I think Dave might need a bed, Mare. Could you take care of that?"

"Already done. I've put Rose in Kira's room and Kira is in Rose's."

"Why?"

Mariel shrugged her shoulders and then, fastening on the last bandage, glanced at Dave. "I've got you in the spare room next to where Rose is sleeping upstairs. I'll show you." She turned back and kissed Tom on the lips. "Keep the bandages on!"

"Yes ma'am!"

She smiled and began to walk towards the door. "Come on Dave. I'll show you where the room is."

"Yeah, ok," Dave replied, staring at Tom, who returned his gaze. Dave turned hurriedly and walked towards the door, wanting to get out and think.

Tom's eyes followed him all the way.


	3. Ticking The Time Away

Jesse was running down the road. He wanted to get as far away from the house as possible in case anyone decided to follow him. Not like anyone would. All they cared about was precious Tom with his wounds, he thought in disgust. If Dad or Larkin had been here and any one of them had been missing, even Tom, then they'd be out there now, searching. But now that his Dad wasn't there any more, Tom seemed to be in charge. The alien was back at the house with his Mom and little sister because everyone thought that being the alien gave him some authority. Or they were all scared of him and Mariel.

He got about three blocks away before he stopped running. He doubled over, wheezing. He'd just gotten out of the hospital himself. He didn't need to do any more damage to his body.

He straightened up and glanced around at the houses. How many of the families behind these doors were hybrids? How many people were being thrown out on the street by their own families all because they were normal humans? And it was all because of Tom. Tom hadn't warned the authorities; he'd just tried to make soldiers to take over the world or something. And it was like no one else cared. Rose liked him, Dad had worked with him, and even Dave was on Tom's side now. Why couldn't someone just believe him, Jesse, for a change?

Jesse suddenly stopped. They've got Rose back at the house. What if Dave can't protect her? What if Tom throws her in the water too?

Jesse started to run again.

* * *

Rose tossed and turned. This was a strange bed and a strange room and she didn't like either of them. She threw off the covers, or as best she could for her size, and crawled out of bed. Maybe Mom would read her a story. Or maybe she could swap rooms with Kira again.

She opened the door very gently. She had heard Dave being shown the spare room next to her and didn't want to wake him. She knew that her Mom and Daddy-Tom slept downstairs next to where Kira was now sleeping. She crept out of her room and across the landing.

"Rose?"

She jumped and opened her mouth to scream.

"Whoa, it's only me. Dave."

"You scared me."

"Sorry kiddo. I was just coming to find you."

"Have Daddy and Larkin come back?"

"No, I don't think they're going to be back till morning but you know what?"

"What?"

"I think your big brother's gone for a walk."

"Jesse. Is he ok?" She felt scared for him. Jesse had that gun and he'd shot it. What if he decided to shoot someone and not something?

"Oh, he's ok, yeah. Your Mom just asked me to go and find him and she said if you weren't asleep I should take you along."

"But why? Mom said I should go to bed."

"Yeah, but she said she wants to talk with Tom."

"Daddy-Tom?"

"Yeah, Daddy-Tom."

"Ok, I couldn't sleep anyway." Rose followed him down the stairs. She liked Dave. He was fun and would tell her stories about invasions of earth and aliens.

* * *

Tom had managed to leave his bandages alone for the time being. He was lying in bed with Mariel and had one arm wrapped tightly around her. She was already asleep but his mind was too busy to do the same. He was thinking over everything that had happened, but mostly about the five hybrids that were locked up and being experimented on down at the air force base. When he had seen them he had wanted so badly to get them out. They'd done nothing wrong; they didn't deserve that. Hell, no one deserved that. And that was part of the reason he hadn't even tried. The threat had been hanging over him ever since her words:

_'…people who can have you down here…'_

He hadn't wanted to be kept in that place another minute, let alone a lifetime. The look of utter helplessness in the five men's eyes and the hope that his presence had given them. He hoped they would be killed soon because he knew they would never be let out. They'd be there for the rest of their very long lives if no one did anything to help them. But right now all he was worried about was Larkin, Russell and their baby. Everyone else was safe; everyone else was with him; everyone else he could protect.

* * *

Kira was sound asleep. She was dreaming of happiness, a far away place right now. She was with Lewis and no one else. They were dancing in a ballroom, totally alone but for the music. It was a waltz and Lewis was twirling her around; they were laughing. They were free; it was as if none of the nightmare had ever happened. She was wearing a long flowing strapless dress but none of the puncture marks were there. Dad had said they would fade, but this didn't seem like a long time had passed. This could be a week or a month away.

She and Lewis were free. Like she always knew they would be.

"I waited for you." Lewis smiled down at her. "I would have always waited."

"How long?" She asked. "How long did you wait? How far away is this?"

"Not far." Lewis was suddenly sad. "But long enough."

She returned the sad smile though she didn't know quite why he was sad. "I'll be with you as soon as I can, I promise."

"What about your father?"

"He loves me. He'll be fine with this."

"I hope…"

But the dream had slipped away. In a few seconds it had gone and Kira had fallen into a dreamless slumber, with the only noise present the tick tock of the clock on the wall.

* * *

Dave glanced out over the last few stairs to check no one was around. He didn't know what Tom or Mariel would do to him if they found him sneaking the littlest kid out of the house... but they should be capable of anything by now.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked. He hated himself for deceiving her like this but there was no way she would leave her Mom and Tom if he'd told her the truth.

"Well, Uncle Dave is making sure we're really quiet so we don't wake up Mariel or Tom. They're very tired after today and they should get some rest, don't you think?"

Rose nodded and copied Dave's position of putting a finger to her lips. Dave grinned at her and started down the stairs.

As they reached the bottom Dave silently thanked the Underlays for keeping their house in good condition and any creaks out of the stairs. They were half way across the hall to the door when someone tugged on his jumper. He jumped but turned to see it was Rose. He glanced at the door but knelt down.

"You scared me kiddo. What's wrong?"

"Can I say goodbye to Mom and Daddy-Tom?"

"I told you they're probably sound asleep and they'll really need it after today."

"I'm not asleep." Dave's head shot up. It was Tom, standing in the doorway of his bedroom.

"Daddy-Tom!" shrieked Rose in delight, before running to him and being hoisted up.

"Ssh now Rose. Dave's right. We don't want to wake your Mom now do we?"

Rose shook her head and then whispered, "No."

"Good! Well Rosy, could you tell me what you're doing out here?"

"Mommy said to Dave that she wanted us to find Jesse."

"Oh she did? Well, why are you going?" Tom glanced at Dave and there was a cold fury in his eyes. Dave recognized it. It was the same look his Mom had had when his Dad had tried to take him away from her. Unable to hold Tom's gaze he looked down.

Rose was speaking again. "Dave said that if I wasn't asleep I could go."

"Well you need all the sleep you can get for tomorrow. What about Dave and I go out and find Jesse, and when we find him we'll bring him back and wake you up and you can see him. We may even bring a treat home for you. Yeah?"

"Yeah." Rose nodded.

"Well then off to bed you go, sweetheart." Tom smiled at her and kissed her on the cheek. "Say goodnight to Uncle Dave. I doubt you'll see him again tonight."

Dave could hardly kneel down to hug Rose he was shaking so much. "Night Rose."

"Goodnight. Are you ok? Why are you shaking?"

Dave glanced up at Tom. "Just cold I guess."

Rose ran off and he thought she'd gone upstairs but a second later she returned with Dave's coat that he'd worn earlier. "Thanks Rose."

"No problem. Goodnight Uncle Dave, goodnight Daddy-Tom."

"Goodnight sweetie." Tom answered. But his eyes never left Dave's. "Let's go for a walk, shall we?"

* * *

Mariel rolled over and felt the bed beside her. It was empty. She reluctantly opened her eyes. Tom might need her help though he was probably taking a shower or walking. She stumbled once or twice on her way to the bathroom to see. It must have been at least five hours since she'd shown Dave the spare room and curled up with Tom.

He wasn't in the bathroom, nor was he anywhere around the house. She looked in on Kira and Rose but she thought that Dave would probably like his privacy. Tom must be out walking, she thought. Before she'd changed she hadn't really known what to make of it but now she always thought he must be out swimming. She felt happier in the bath till she knew how long she could hold her breath for, but after ten years Tom would have found out.

Tonight he was probably out looking for Jesse, or even Larkin and Russell. She'd never a met another man who cared so much about the people around him. He'd accepted her kids so easily. Taking on the role of Rose's second father and a friend to Jesse. What would have happened, she wondered, if Jesse had known about Tom right from the start? He would have tried to kill him for sure.

She stopped half way across the hall on her way back to bed. Jesse was out there and according to the evidence so was Tom. Jesse thought Tom had torn his family apart and Tom was looking for him. Larkin had told her about Jesse's gun. She knew that Tom carried one.

Her son and her husband were out there. They were both armed and Jesse was angry. What would happen if Tom found him?

Mariel ran to get dressed praying that Tom wouldn't.

* * *

Tom kept a firm grip on Dave's elbow. The man beside him was much bigger than he was, but nevertheless was quivering with fear.

When he spoke his voice shook. "Where… where are… we… going?"

"Somewhere where you and I can have a nice little talk."

"Come on man, I didn't mean any harm."

"I know Dave."

The gentleness of the voice would have made anyone who didn't know what he was relax but the problem was that Dave did know. He knew the tactic Tom was using only too well. He'd been terrified when his Dad had used it and it wasn't any better now. Especially considering that his Dad had half drowned him and hadn't been one of these things.

"Tom…"

"Yes Dave."

It was the repetition of his name. That subtle tone that showed no anger but a quiet sort of power emanating from all around him.

"I… didn't… mean any… harm."

"I know Dave. Get in."

They'd reached Tom's Sheriff car and Tom was pushing Dave towards the front passenger seat.

"Oh, no way man. I don't get in strangers' cars."

"But I'm not a stranger, am I, Dave?"

The gentle lilt in the voice. He could have just asked what the weather would be like tomorrow.

"Come on Dave. Get in the car."

Dave tried to take a step back but found Tom right behind him.

"Get in the car Dave."

Dave swallowed and forced himself to bend down so he didn't hit his head when he stepped into the car.

"Good."

Tom could have been praising Rose back at the house. Dave thought longingly of the house. A nice warm bed. Why had he been so stupid? Why couldn't he have just let it ride? They were all safe and they would have found Jesse, Larkin and Russ tomorrow. But now what? What was Tom going to do to him? Would they find his body tomorrow along with the others? Would he be one of these hybrid things? Or would these creatures or maybe Tom just kill him and be done with it, not bother to find Larkin and Russ and just have the nice happy family that Dave himself could never have?

* * *

Jesse walked through the woodland. He knew that if he rushed and ran he wouldn't find it. He had to be slow, methodical, and calm. He picked his way along the side of the road pushing the leaves aside and looking for the tell tale flash of metal reflecting the moon.

He had liked Tom in the beginning. He'd been fun to be with and lively, joining in the games that he, Kira and Rose had played. Russell had always told him not to get too close. Jesse had just thought that his Dad was jealous of the new guy, but now he wished he had listened. Because he had gotten attached to Tom as the guy who was really cool and wasn't his Dad. The guy who you could hang out with and talk to and feel like you belonged with.

But that had all changed. The world had come crashing down around Jesse's ears and the only thing that was keeping him going was the fact that he could stop it. He could stop Tom from hurting any more people. He could end it.

Jesse saw the flash of moonlight and picked up his quarry. He could stop Daddy-Tom, oh yes. And he would!

* * *

Mariel ran down the path. She had dressed in the warmest clothes she could find and was desperate to save Tom. How had this happened? How had she got from working nights in a hospital to chasing after her son trying to stop him from killing her husband? She shook her head. It would be better if she didn't think about that or what she was going to do when she found either one of them. Though basically she didn't want to think because if she did the image of Tom lying dead at Jesse's feet would spring into her mind.

* * *

Tom could sense something was wrong. Of course, Dave couldn't, and Tom found himself wishing for Lewis. One of his own who could confirm what he was feeling. There was something in the air and clichéd as Tom knew it sounded that was exactly what it was. He could almost smell it; it was his instinct over riding all else in him.

He was coming up to a fork in the road. One led out of town and was the one he had been planning to take. The other led down to the water and if he took that Dave would probably die of fright. But, as he paused the car at the split in the road, the path out of town emanated danger. It was the same track where Russell had held the empty gun against his chest and Tom had been so sure that he was about to die. Any human would have told itself that all they were feeling was a sense of what had happened in the past and gone right on ahead.

That human would probably be dead by morning Tom told himself, and turned towards the water.

* * *

Dave stopped breathing when Tom stopped the car at the junction. One way led to safety and the other led to death. Tom seemed to be drawing out the moment for as long as possible just to torture him and Dave wanted to shout at him to just get on with it.

But then Tom turned towards the water. Dave had never felt so scared in his life.

The track became more beaten and Dave bumped his head on the low ceiling. What a blessing it would be if he passed out. That would be good, yeah. Just like all the times he'd got so drunk he couldn't even remember his own name. Larkin didn't understand why he did it. She hadn't had to bear the brunt of their father's anger. She had no idea.

But a drunken stupor sounded nice right about now. To fall into oblivion and never surface. To never have to deal with the hangovers or fear of aliens again. To not be needed to go fishing for lights in the water or be trapped in a police car with a hybrid alien thing.

Yeah, that sounded nice.

* * *

Tom had heard Dave stop breathing when he'd stopped at the road and he'd heard the audible gasp when he'd taken the road down to the water, but since then Dave had been strangely quiet. He had expected Dave to beg for his life. But then he really hadn't done this before so what did he know?

The water wasn't in sight yet but he could feel it.

"It won't be long now." His voice seemed to have a mind of its own. Why did Dave need to know that? So that he knew when he could make a break for it? Did some unconscious part of Tom want Dave to escape?

* * *

The water came into view and Dave tried to shrink back in his seat, to get away from this madman. He thought if he made himself small enough then Tom would forget about him, maybe be hypnotized by the water and leave him alone. But although Tom stared at the water for a second longer than any human would have done he still pulled away from it.

Dave watched him walk round to his side of the car. His eyes never once left Dave, almost as if he was scared that he might escape if they did.

"Out." The single word was crisp and clear in the night air but the voice was like ice. Dave found himself shaking again as he turned towards the water. "Here." He turned back to see Tom holding out the coat that Rose had handed to him. He took it with shaking hands. "Put it on. You look like you're about to freeze to death."

This time Tom didn't meet his eyes but walked right past him and down onto the beach. After Dave had pulled on the coat he glanced at Tom, who was keeping a respectful distance from the water and the car… with the car keys still in it.

Dave looked nervously at Tom but he hadn't looked up. Dave could just get in the car and drive off. And when Tom got home he'd find officers waiting to arrest him and would never see the light of day again.

But something in Dave stopped him. He'd had enough of running away; enough of bowing out and letting someone else take the lead. He wanted answers.

* * *

Tom had given Dave the chance and he was genuinely surprised when Dave appeared beside him instead of driving off in the car. According to how he had been acting in the car that was the first thing any human should have done.

"I want answers."

Oh, of course. The curiosity of the human mind. That was what had made Dave stick around.

"I want to make one thing very clear." Tom turned and seized Dave by the back of the neck. Suddenly Dave wasn't the confident, curious human. He was a quivering child and with good reason thought Tom. It would be so easy to snap his neck. But that was the difference between being a hybrid and being a monster: control. So he kept his voice very pleasant and very calm. "I want to make something very, very clear. You will never ever try to take Rose or Jesse or Kira away from us again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I won't. It was stupid. I wasn't thinking. I won't do it again I swear."

"Good." As suddenly as he had seized Dave's neck he let it go and stepped back. "Now, what did you want exactly?" He turned to look at him.

"Uh, well… um…I."

"Oh come on Dave, get the words out. What do you want to ask me? Anything?"

"What's… happened to Larkin and Russell?"

"They've gone into the water." Tom turned back and looked out.

"Have you brought me here to look for them?" Dave knew he sounded hopeful but he was giving Tom a chance to make this all go away and for everyone to come home safe that night.

Tom knew what Dave had just done but he wasn't going to use it. Because he had to make Dave understand. "No, of course not." He felt Dave tense up next to him. "How could you find anything in this light?" Of course Tom could, but he wasn't going to say that. Dave might want to start looking.

"So why have you brought me out here?" Dave asked. "To kill me?"

"Oh Dave, stop being so over dramatic." Tom threw an arm around Dave's shoulders and pulled him with him as he walked towards the water.

"Then why?" Dave wrenched himself free of Tom's grip. Tom continued for a few paces and then stopped, glancing back.

"Why did you try to take Rose?"

Dave felt the need to answer him. If these were to be his last words he wanted them to be spoken in truth. "I was scared for her."

"Why?" Tom sounded genuinely surprised.

"Why do you think?" Dave was suddenly angry. "After everything that's happened do you think my sister and Russ would want their kids in a house with you and…" he faltered and stopped still staring at Tom.

"And Mariel?" Tom looked at him questioningly. "Because we're different you automatically think we would hurt the kids?"

"All the others have. People have been killing themselves and their kids."

"But not here! Can't you see that?"

"Yeah I know you're the missing link thing. You're meant to be making the difference."

"Well I hope I am or this thing would be a whole waste of time."

Dave shook his head. "Can you honestly tell me that you wouldn't hurt them?"

"Yes!" Now Tom rounded on Dave. "I would never in a million years hurt those kids. Ever! But just cause I'm a hybrid I've got to be the bad guy! I have tried so hard to protect them. I fought so hard to stop Kira going into the water cause I knew what would happen. I tried so hard to keep Jess on your side. I've tried to be a good Dad to Rose. But the last ten years mean nothing because of the last few months. I was a hybrid all the time but I still tried. Something that's different isn't necessarily wrong, Dave. I just wanted to co-exist with humans but because of Russell that is never going to happen. Russell created this war, Dave, not me."

"I beg to differ!"

Dave turned but Jesse was staring right at Tom... and Tom was staring right at the gun in Jesse's hand.

"Hi, Daddy-Tom. Do you wanna check to see if it's loaded?"


	4. Definition Of A Man

Mariel was driving through the woods. She couldn't calm herself down enough to think about where she was after an hour of searching. She'd been driving along this same dark road looking everywhere for any sign of movement. It was still a few hours till sunrise, and she wasn't thinking clearly enough to even think about seeing further than a few rows of trees at a time.

She couldn't find them. It seemed that she'd been searching forever, and that she would never find them. And if someone got hurt it was her fault. She'd allowed Jesse to go out of the house because she thought he'd come back after a few hours, but when she'd checked his room it hadn't been touched. Jesse had never stayed out all night in normal circumstances... but these weren't normal by a long shot.

What if she did indeed arrive and find that Jesse had shot Tom? What if Tom was dead? What would happen to Jess? It was too horrible to think about but her efforts to avoid the thoughts had proved fruitless and this was all she could think of now. She'd seen Tom in his own blood way too often but she'd always convinced herself that she'd save him. But how could she save him if she wasn't with him? How could she stand between him and the press wanting to break down the door? How could she protect him if he was where she couldn't find him?

* * *

"Whoa, Jesse man. What are you doing?" Dave asked. Tom had frozen at his side the minute he'd seen the gun. Dave got no answer though. "Hey, Jess?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm protecting my family!"

"You get some big thrill out of this?" Tom was speaking. Dave was amazed. If he'd been looking at that end of a gun he couldn't have said a word.

"What?"

"Oh come on Jess!" Dave suddenly felt like he was very much outside the conversation. "You know what I mean. Do you get a thrill out of stepping up and being the man? Thinking it's ok to shoot a man cause you think he's a danger to your family."

"You're not a man." Jesse shook his head wildly.

"What's the definition of a man?" Tom replied. "Someone who can walk and talk? Someone who can understand another's pain? Someone who knows how to fire a gun?"

"Someone who's in the body they were born into," shouted Jesse.

"No one's in the body they were born into. We're not a race of newborn babies Jess."

"Don't! Don't say my name."

"What should I call you then? I wonder what they'll call you in prison when you get life for killing a Sheriff."

"You're not a human."

"And how many of your arresting officers; how many of my colleagues back at the station do you think are still human, huh?"

Dave could see Jesse faltering. Tom really was good; he'd had the training, but there was something else about him. Maybe because he'd taken three bullets and survived, but there was a cold confidence around him that Jesse couldn't win over. Everyone here knew that.

"So what's it going to be?" Tom asked. "Shoot me and spend the rest of your life in prison? Or hand that over to me… as it's my gun."

"It's not yours." Jesse managed to choke out. "You gave it to me."

"Yeah, and under the law that states that no man without the proper training may carry a fire arm I'm going to have to take it back."

"No!"

Tom's hand that had reached out towards the gun dropped back to his side. He turned half away and then back. "As you're classified as an adult you might even get the chair."

* * *

Mariel saw the light begin to flow over the horizon. She had to look twice to make sure it was the sun and not some orange creature raiding party. She still hadn't found them and it was nearing dawn. Dave and Kira would be worried if they woke up and were alone with Rose. But she couldn't turn around. What if she was just a minute away from finding them? She told herself that the next minute. And the next.

* * *

Jesse's gun hand was shaking badly. Dave was scared the gun might go off without him meaning it to. Tom, obviously, wasn't afraid of that. He hadn't moved, but had his eyes fixed on Jesse.

"What are you going to do…?" Tom was speaking again, but this time he was slower as if he was choosing his words more carefully, meaning them to make more of an impact. "If…" his head suddenly shot up towards the trees. Dave looked but Jesse didn't.

As Tom's eyes returned to normal Jesse shook his head: "Oldest trick in the book."

But Tom didn't falter. If anything, he eyed Jesse with an even colder expression. "What are you gonna do, Jess?" Jesse opened his mouth to tell him to stop calling him by name but Tom held up a hand and by some miracle Jesse's mouth closed. "What are gonna do if your Mom is standing right behind you?"

Dave's eyes turned to look behind Jesse and so did Jesse's. There was no one there though and Jesse had just enough time for his eyes to widen before Tom covered an impossible distance with a single leap and crashed into him.

Jesse could struggle all he wanted, Dave realized, but he was no match for Tom. The gun was out of his grip and in Tom's before he had time to blink. Tom stood over the frightened boy but didn't point the gun at him. Instead he bent down and whispered in Jesse's ear just loud enough for Dave to hear. "See that's the difference between you and me: I'd never think to give my stepson a gun with _live _bullets!"

And with that he turned and hurled the gun into the water, before hauling Jesse up so he was standing beside him, and beckoned Dave over.

Dave was slightly shaky on his feet but managed to move across to them. "Are you two ok?"

"Oh yeah, I think we're fine. Aren't we big guy?" Tom put a hand on Jesse's slumped shoulders.

"Erm Tom," Dave suddenly had a nasty thought. "What are we gonna tell Mariel?"

"Just watch me," Tom replied, turning to look up the beach towards the road. Dave followed his eye line, as did Jesse, and saw Mariel. In that one moment he prayed she hadn't seen this.

* * *

"Oh my god, Jesse. Tom. Dave? What's going on?" Mariel stopped a few metres short of them, glancing at Tom who gave her a reassuring smile.

"Oh don't worry," he replied. "Dave and I found Jesse here. He was already leaving when we got here. He didn't go near the water but he seemed pretty upset. Why don't you go to your Mom, yeah?"

Jesse was looking up at him in astonishment but practically flew out of Tom's arms and into his mother's.

"It's ok," Mariel whispered. "Go wait in the car ok, honey?" Jesse nodded wordlessly and glanced back at Tom, who smiled at him, before fleeing to the car.

"Thank you." Mariel ran over to Tom and hugged him, pulling Dave into the hug as well.

"It's ok Mare. It's alright," Tom whispered into her hair.

She pulled back and looked him in the eye. "You promise me that he went nowhere near the water?"

"I promise you, Mare."

The relief was evident on her face. "Thank you."

"It's ok." Tom quickly kissed her. "Drive Jesse back. Dave and I are gonna have a quick look for Larkin and Russell but it's probably too early. If we don't find something in an hour we'll head on back."

"Make it half an hour?" Tom smiled and nodded and Mariel started back towards the car. Tom turned and walked away. This time he made no move to forcibly bring Dave but they were a couple of paces apart all the same.

"Why did you do that?"

Tom nodded and stopped. "I had a feeling you were going to ask that." He smiled.

Dave didn't smile back though. "I need to know why you did that."

Tom nodded again. "I guess it's a difference between me and you and I wish I could say it was a difference between hybrids and humans but I can't."

"What?"

"That kid pointed a gun at me. It's my job to make guys like that go to prison. It satisfies me to see gun-wielding men behind bars. But this was personal. Jesse had a good reason."

"So?"

"I won't destroy the life of a young kid and my wife just because it'll satisfy me."


	5. A Question Of Humanity

Kira turned over in her sleep and gradually woke up. Someone was moving about in the hall. She didn't want to get up. All she wanted to do was to fall back into the dream with Lewis but breakfast suddenly sounded very good.

She heaved herself up from her position thrown across the bed and rubbed at her eyes. Feeling her way across the still dark landing she moved to the light switch. She heard another movement from the hall and flipped the switch. "Mariel! Jesse! What…?"

"Hi Kira. Tom and…"

"Are Tom and Dave back?" Rose bounded across the landing from above and ran down the stairs to Kira. "Only they said they'd bring me a treat!"

"Well, Rose seems to know more than I do. What's going on?" Kira asked, looking at Mariel.

"Tom and Dave went out looking for Jess. I followed and they found him. I brought him back and they're following."

"Why do I feel like you're leaving something out?" Kira shook her head and was surprised when Jesse shifted uncomfortably. She couldn't ask anything more though because Tom and Dave bounded through the door behind Mariel. Kira took in the slight jump from Jesse and the worried look on his face.

"Hey, how we doing?" Tom whirled Mariel around. Kira smiled as they embraced and then was quite surprised herself as her Dad crossed over to her and picked her up in his arms, swinging her round.

* * *

Dave was silent on the journey home. They'd only stayed on the beach for a few minutes, both of them knowing it was too early to be out there. He was thinking about what Tom had said. What makes us human? Were the bullets in the gun really fake? Could Tom really sense that Mariel was there? And was Tom a better man than him because Dave still wanted to turn Jesse over to the cops?

But when he saw Tom get to the house and practically attack Mariel and Kira with affection at least one of his questions was answered, and both he and Jesse knew it. It _had _been live ammunition in that gun. Tom scooped Rose up in his arms and Dave was starting to feel a little sorry for Jesse, but Tom crossed over to him and drew him into a tight hug as well.

Dave saw how Jesse took a long time to relax into the hug but he did in the end. It seemed the only other person who had noticed was Kira, who was looking at Tom oddly. Whilst Mariel was busy trying to disentangle Rose from Tom and Jesse he caught Kira's attention and rolled his eyes.

"Father and son bonding!" he mouthed and rolled his eyes again. Kira seemed to relax. She must have gone through it with Mariel as well, so she knew he wasn't making it up. He only wished he was making it up, Dave thought, as he glanced at Tom, who was now swinging Rose out of reach of Mariel and laughing with her. Jesse was smiling too and when Tom threw Rose to him he joined in the game.

Now all but one of Dave's questions were answered. What makes us human is what Tom was doing right there with Mariel, Rose and Jesse. It was happy and forgiving and family. And Tom was a far better man than he was, because Jesse was just a scared teenager and he, Dave, would have thrown him to the wolves.

* * *

Tom lunged at Mariel but she grabbed Rose and swept her over her shoulder. Rose screamed, loving the game. Tom saw Jesse creep up behind her and relaxed slightly.

"Oh no you don't." Mariel swung Rose away from Jesse but Tom grabbed her round the waist and lifted her up, only to promptly drop them both and collapse on the floor.

"God you…" he coughed nervously. Jesse made a noise like a frightened eel and backed away slowly with Rose. "I mean with you and Rose it's… With these…" Tom gestured to his wounds. "Uh… well…"

"A word of advice Dad. When you're in a hole: stop digging."

He grinned at Kira sheepishly and then looked up at Mariel who was surveying him as if she was planning what to do with him first: boil or stew.

"No, but really…" Tom continued as Mariel turned away. "I _am _bleeding again." And he moved his hand away from his stomach to show his shirt soaked in blood.

* * *

I could kill him, Jesse thought. Tom was weak now and all he had to do was wrap his hands around Tom's throat and Tom couldn't do anything to stop him. Nothing at all.

It was about an hour after Tom had collapsed from carrying both Mariel and Rose and started bleeding again. He was alone in his Mom's room with Tom, who was sleeping soundly. The rest of them were in the kitchen discussing what to do, but not really getting anywhere without Tom's guidance. Dave had come into check on him regularly until about ten minutes ago, but now he seemed to be trusted again. How stupid could they be?

Tom was at his mercy. So why wasn't he doing anything? Because of something Tom did out on the beach where he probably would have gotten into more trouble for telling the truth than not? Because of the niggling doubt in the back of Jesse's mind that Tom was trying to protect him? Because of the understanding and forgiveness? Jesse couldn't figure out why he wasn't killing this son of a bitch right now but something was stopping him.

"Jesse?"

"Yeah." He glanced up. It was Kira. She hadn't forgiven him but now that she saw him sitting with, and apparently looking after, her Dad, she softened a little.

"Mariel has breakfast ready."

"What about Tom?"

"When he wakes up he can have some."

"Ok." Jesse watched as Kira walked out of the room and then turned back to her father. He used the excuse that if he killed Tom Kira would never forgive him and left for the kitchen.

Tom opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.

* * *

Tom had really believed that Jesse would try to kill him again. The kid's hands had been inches from his neck; he'd almost felt them touch his skin. He really didn't know what would have happened if Kira hadn't come in. He knew that Jesse couldn't kill him by strangling him, but he didn't want to hurt him or Mariel, and that would have to happen if the kid kept going.

He didn't know what to do now. Go in there and tell Jesse with his eyes that he knows what's going on? Or do nothing and hope that doesn't encourage any weakness?

Tom held his head in his hands. Why did they have to come again after all this time? Why couldn't things just go back to the way they were? Why did they need to come back? Everyone had been happy and then the lights had come and he'd gotten careless; hadn't watched where Mariel was. He just hadn't! So Jesse was right in a way: Mariel was his fault but the invasion and Larkin and Russell weren't. He just wished he could go in there and tell them what they needed to do to make this all go away.

But he couldn't.

* * *

"Ok, we've got eggs and bacon. Simple yet compact. Now who wants what?" Mariel laughed as they all scrabbled at the plates. Some things never change, she thought.

"Any left for an invalid?" came a remark from the doorway. Tom was standing there, leaning against the doorframe.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Mariel rushed over to help him into a chair.

"I was hungry," he offered, smiling at her.

"Hey man," Dave threw across the table. "Carrying two tiny women too hard for you?" Everyone burst out laughing. Mariel returned to the counter to fish out some eggs and bacon for Tom.

"Nah, I must have opened it up again when we were on the beach. Jumping around does that." Tom glanced over at Jesse who looked down at his plate.

"Sorry Tom." There was the apology, Tom thought. One baby step.

"Oh it's alright. Probably would have happened anyway, knowing my life."

"Well promise me you won't get any more holes punched in you till those ones have healed!" Mariel said as she walked over with her and Tom's plates.

"I promise." Tom looked down at his chest. "You heard the lady: heal!"

They were all laughing again so they didn't hear the front door go or the footsteps that led right up to the kitchen door.

"Well," a voice said coolly. "I see you're having a fine time without me."


	6. Return From The Water

"Russell!" Their collected voicing of one word would have been funny at any other time but here was Russell, who had swum into the water and willingly changed, standing before them dressed in a pair of over sized jeans and an under sized jumper.

Dave was the first one to move; leaping to his feet, he threw his arms around Russell. Russell didn't hug him back and his eyes remained cold.

"Hey, come on, Russ. It's me, Dave."

"Yeah, one of everyone else who isn't bothering to look for me."

"Oh come on, Russell." Mariel gestured to the kids. "They needed food."

"If you'd been lost out there I would have been out all night looking for you but that thought never even crossed your mind did it?"

"Russell, the kids come first."

"Don't blame the kids, Mare." It was Tom. He was standing behind his chair. Mariel started forward to help him but he shook his head quickly.

"You!" Russell started towards Tom threateningly but was suddenly blocked by Jesse. "You make a habit of hiding behind defenseless people don't you Tom? Get out of the way Jess."

"No." Tom was the most surprised person in the room that Jesse was sticking up for him. He would have exchanged a look of shock with Dave but Dave was staring in horror at Russell.

"Come on Russ," Dave began. "It's not his fault."

"So that's which side you've chosen." Russell turned to him. "The side of a man who murdered your sister!"

"What?" Tom choked out.

"Oh yeah, pretend like you don't know! You threw her in the water knowing what would happen."

"What happened, Russell?" Mariel whispered.

"She's dead! She's gone! I couldn't find her!"

"Oh my god." Dave bit his lip.

"Did you see her body?" Mariel asked.

"What does it matter?" Russell rounded on her. Tom made a move to get between them but a second later Russell's attention was back on him.

"So I guess you got what you wanted then Tom? I became a monster for nothing!" And with that Russell threw himself across the room at Tom. He smashed into his chest and the force of the leap took both men down. Russell immediately attacked Tom's chest and neck, where he could see the puncture marks.

"Dad!" Jesse shouted. And then he flew in himself, tearing at Russell's back until he raised his head, which gave Mariel enough time to send a frying pan clashing into his face.

"Does that look like 'defenseless' to you?"

* * *

"What are we going to do with him?" Jesse asked Tom. They were alone in the basement where Russell had been tied up and laid on the camper bed. The others were upstairs probably sitting around the kitchen table in silence.

"I don't know, Jess."

Jesse took a deep breath. "Did you know what would happen to Larkin?"

"No! We don't even… No."

The voice was so grief stricken that Jesse had to believe him. "How do we get him to believe that?"

"I don't know, but he's still your Dad, Jess. Same as your Mom."

"He's not the same as her."

"Jesse…"

"No! He was laying into you, I called him and he didn't even look up. He was my Dad that much."

"Jess, he's just…"

"Going through a lot of changes right? Well, you should know: I've been going through some changes myself; some reverting, and I still think you're to blame."

"Have you considered that you may need proof?"

"Oh, I have it. It's sitting upstairs, lying in here, and if Russell's right dead somewhere out in the bay."

Tom nodded. "This is your decision son."

"You're not my father! You'll never be my father. And now, thanks to you," Jesse glanced at Russell. "I'll never have one again!"

* * *

Jesse flew up the stairs and out of the basement, only stopping when he had to check if anyone was in the hallway. Rose was sitting there reading the book that Tom had given her. Jesse felt a surge of anger. What right did that man have to treat them like his own? He and Rose were about as far away from Tom's 'own' as they could get. And that wasn't about to change if Jesse had anything to do with it.

"Hey Rose?"

"Hi."

Great! So now Tom had made Rose scared of him. He had seen it in the way her head had shot up and looked for the gun in his hand. He was sick and tired of this and the only reason he didn't take off for good was that he couldn't leave Rose behind with these monsters.

Having nowhere to go didn't bother him. There were plenty of run down, abandoned houses in town where Rose and he could stay but she wouldn't go anywhere with _him_. An idiot could see that in the way she had never once taken her eyes off him.

"What you up to Rose?"

She gave him a worried look and he wondered if Dave had warned her not to talk about 'Daddy-Tom' in front of him. She might have even been told about what happened but Jesse somehow doubted that Dave could tell Rose without telling Mariel.

"Just reading."

He was scaring her and he couldn't take that. He shook his head and went off to his room. Maybe things would be better tomorrow. Maybe.

* * *

Kira was sitting on the swing out in the back garden. She didn't come out here too often now. The garden held nothing of interest to a teenager but it was peaceful and quiet, and certainly had a better atmosphere than that of the kitchen. Everyone was feeling guilty about not searching for Russell and Larkin the night before. Tom was watching Russ, and Jesse had run off to his room. Rose had been sent out into the hall and Mariel and Dave were in the kitchen and were meant to be discussing what to do next. Kira assumed they wouldn't be getting anywhere. Her Dad was the only one who knew what to do here and everyone knew that.

She gazed out over the view of the town trying to pick out the hybrids from the humans in a sea of people milling around the church. Another one of her Dad's relief groups, she thought. She wondered who was running them now that there was no reverend. From the looks of things no one. Her eyesight wasn't that good but she was sure a fight had just broken out as a single person passed through the crowd. Maybe the crowd were all hybrids and the single person was a human, but now that her Mom was up here and not down there, no one would stop it. She felt certain that the man or woman being beaten wouldn't survive, and she really wanted to do something. But she was cleverer than Jesse. She knew she couldn't just run off because she wanted to.

She jumped off the swing and walked slowly over to the pond. Her Dad hadn't had fish in it for a long time and the lily pads sat undisturbed on the surface. There was suddenly a whistle from the neighbor's fence. She glanced back at the house to check if anyone was looking out the windows. She couldn't see anyone so she cautiously approached the fence.

"Who is it?" She called out. The whistle came from behind the fence again and she climbed up on one of the rocks in the arrangement her Dad had brought from some fair or something to look over.

"Well, look who it is!" There were three of them: two boys and a girl standing in a semi-circle around where she was.

She knew one of the boys as Cal but the others were unfamiliar to her. "What's going on?" she asked them. She was ready to leap down at a moment's notice if they made a move towards her or she heard someone coming out of the house.

"Well, look at the little human."

"So you're hybrids?" She backed right up to the edge of the rock so she was as far away from them as possible.

"Is that what your traitor Daddy calls us?" Kira was silent so they continued. "What we don't understand is why you haven't changed? Wouldn't you like to be like your Dad?"

They took a step closer but Kira forced herself not to move. "I tried."

The three stopped and Cal put his head on one side. Kira found herself comparing him to an eagle, silently watching his prey. "What you mean?" he asked.

"I tried going into the water." Kira didn't know why she was telling them this. She just wanted to defend herself. "But it wouldn't have me."

"Ohh!" The surprised look in their eyes vanished to be replaced by ones of understanding. "You must have gone in at the wrong place."

"My Dad said that they only accept the perfect. I've got a faulty heart valve. They wouldn't take me."

"Would it seem right that an invading force," the boys and the girl took another step closer. Again Kira forced herself not to move. "Like us would turn someone away just because of one little problem?"

No, Kira thought. When her Dad had told her, it hadn't seemed logical, but he was her Dad and nothing would make her disbelieve him.

"We can use all the soldiers we can get." They took another step closer.

"I won't fight." Kira shook her head. Why was she even considering this?

"Well wouldn't you just like to be like your Dad?" Another step.

This was exactly what she had been told by Christina on the beach. "No, I don't believe you." Kira glanced down at the ground on her side of the fence so she would know where to put her feet. That was when they made their move. The two boys grabbed her arms while the girl pulled at her head trying to tug her over the fence. Kira opened her mouth to scream but a hand clamped over her mouth. How could she have been so stupid?

* * *

Tom crossed the hall to the kitchen. When he looked inside he saw Dave and Mariel sitting at the counter. He was glad Jesse wasn't in there. He really didn't need someone else attacking him right now. Mariel looked round and saw him.

"How long have you been standing there?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Not long." He crossed the kitchen and kissed her before sitting down next to Dave. "Russ is still out. You really hit him Mare!"

"Well, I don't like people calling me defenseless."

"Is he all right?" Dave asked.

Tom nodded. "Should be." He turned to Mariel. "Coffee?"

"Sure."

"Where's Kira?"

"Out in the garden. I don't think she could stand the tension in here."

Tom smiled and swung himself carefully out of his seat. He didn't want to reopen his wounds. He crossed to the kitchen window and looked out. He saw Kira at the pond looking for fish and smiled. He turned back to the kitchen and returned to his seat.

* * *

Kira was struggling for all she was worth but they were too strong. She had managed to get her head back far enough for the girl to leave it alone and start pulling at her body. Cal's hand was still over her mouth and even though she'd bitten it twice, he refused to let go.

The girl grabbed her hair and pulled. Kira cried out in pain and suddenly had an idea. It was something her Dad had taught her a long time ago. At the time she had never believed she would be attacked and hadn't really paid attention, but now she was glad he'd made her actually do it to him for real so she could learn.

She pushed about half her weight forward so the girl lost her balance and fell backwards. Cal almost fell too and automatically pulled his hand away from her mouth to steady himself. Kira screamed. Both the boys reached a hand to put it over her mouth and that left only two hands holding her. She threw all her weight backwards into her own garden and tumbled from the rocks. She landed hard and looked up to see Cal had hung onto her and was on her side of the fence. The other boy and girl were half way through climbing over. She started to pick herself up to run as all three of her attackers moved in.

There was some movement from behind her and then a voice. "I wouldn't if I were you." Kira glanced round and saw the gun.

* * *

Tom was sitting alone in the kitchen. It was around mid-day and Dave had gone out on a beer run. Mariel was guarding Russell despite his warnings and he was sipping his coffee watching a wound on his stomach heal before his eyes.

He felt kind of empty, like he was missing something. His holster! He must have left it… down in the basement. Tom swore and leapt up. That was one of the most amateurish mistakes he'd ever made. He tore across the hall and wrenched open the door to the basement.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs his heart was almost wrenched from his chest: Mariel wasn't there. Then a knife was swiftly pressed against his throat.

* * *

Rose was sitting in her room. She'd enjoyed the first part of the book but there were no pictures for the next few pages so she was putting it off by saying she wanted to play with her toys. She was really sitting there thinking about that nice boy at school she'd been playing with, right before Uncle Dave had pulled her away. He was clever and funny and liked the games she made up. She wondered if she was going back to school on Monday or not. Daddy-Tom would probably say it wasn't safe.

If she didn't go back to school she'd probably never see him again, or the new teacher, or any of her friends. She'd found the last few classes quite confusing and so had everyone else but the general feeling was that the teacher was telling them something interesting that they shouldn't know about. That was enough for the whole class to listen in rapt silence.

She had always liked it when Daddy-Tom picked her up from school in his police car. He'd flash the lights and put the sirens on for her. Kira didn't like the car. She'd said something about her friends not liking it but all of Rose's friends thought she and the car were really cool.

Maybe she'd understand one day why police cars were so bad.

* * *

"Oh it's you."

Tom felt the knife slip away from his throat and turned to see Mariel looking back at him. His initial reaction of worry for Mariel's safety had been replaced by fear of the knife at his throat so he didn't spring forward to check she was all right.

"What was that about?" He must have said it a bit louder than he'd meant to because when Mariel answered it was with a calming if scathing voice.

"I wasn't the one who just flew at me down the stairs."

Tom took a deep breath. "I'd left my gun down here and I was worried about you."

Mariel put down the knife and drew him in for a hug. "Call down before you do that next time."

"Yes!" Tom started slowly. "So that if you have been caught by the bad guys I can let everyone know I'm coming!"

"Oh shut it." Mariel laughed and knocked him gently on the head.

Tom laughed back and turned round to look for his holster. It was lying on the table on the other side of the room. Russell was still unconscious, but even awake he wouldn't have been able to reach it tied down like he was. So why… There was the noise of the back door banging upstairs. "Jesse!" Tom whispered and shot off towards the stairs.

Mariel shook her head as Tom passed her. Why couldn't he ever slow down? She glanced at the table and saw he'd left the holster there again even though he'd just picked it up. She sighed and crossed over to it. When she lifted it up it felt too light. She glanced inside. It was empty. Jesse! Mariel followed Tom's path up the stairs.

* * *

The two boys and the girl had frozen in their places, half on the ground. Cal made a move to get up but Jesse screamed at him. "Stay down!"

Kira stumbled away from them and moved behind Jesse. Cal growled. "Do you really think you're going to fire that?"

Jesse took a step closer so the gun was resting against Cal's forehead and pulled the safety off. "Do you wanna find out?"

Kira heard the back door banging behind her and her name shouted. She turned. "Dad!"

"Kira." He was across the lawn and on her in seconds, hugging her close. "It's alright baby."

Mariel was a few steps behind him, touching his arm. "Tom." He glanced up and his eyes seemed to zoom in on his gun in Jesse's hand.

Jesse stepped back out of the Cal's reach and pointed the gun at the ground, taking his finger off the trigger. He turned and pushed it into Tom's chest and headed back towards the house. "You should be careful where you leave that thing lying around."


	7. Fear Of God

Mariel slowly came up from beneath the water in the bath. She waited a few long moments before taking a breath. Tom had advised her to test her breathing limits, to stay under for as long as possible; but apparently patience wasn't a thing these upgrades were adorned with. She'd been lying there for an hour and a half and had almost drifted off to sleep.

It was late in the afternoon and Tom had said they'd need all the sleep they could get for tomorrow. No one had mentioned the incident out in the garden and Tom had warned the boys and girl to stay away.

She felt around the bath for a towel and, when she found one, clambered out. As she dried off she heard noises in the hall. Jesse and Rose were talking. Mariel agreed with Kira though of course they'd said nothing. The way she'd told Kira the night before about what had happened with Jesse, Tom, and Dave on the beach had proven that Tom hadn't told her the full story either.

On her way back to Jesse she'd felt the boot of the Sheriff car. They must have been down there for at least an hour for the engine to get that cold. It didn't take an hour to get a boy who was already leaving the beach.

There was also that comment at breakfast that Tom made about opening up his wounds by jumping around on the beach. That had been careless of him, if he hadn't meant for her to figure out that he and Jesse must have gotten into a fight. She couldn't for one minute believe that Tom would attack Jesse, but in the state he was in, she could well believe that Jesse would attack Tom. She couldn't ask either of them of course. They'd just say the other started it and they couldn't both be right.

She heard Jesse walk out of the hall and a few second later a door slamming. Thankfully it was inside the house. She doubted Tom and Dave would go and look for him again if he took off. Tom would if she asked him to but, with those wounds, she never would. They would probably be healed by morning but if Jesse decided to attack him again she didn't know if Tom could win.

And then there was Russell sitting tied up down in the basement. Her ex-husband had gone into the water, been changed, lost his wife and his baby, come into the house, found them all laughing and attacked Tom. It was a bit much to get her head around right now. She could see where Russell's anger was coming from concerning them as a whole. When he came home to find them all sitting around the table having bacon and eggs, laughing, she couldn't really blame him for getting angry. The kids were no excuse to not start looking the night before.

But even though Tom had told them not to it was true that they would have found nothing out in the dark. When she'd been driving along the roads looking for Jesse she could hardly see through a couple of trees and the beach was even darker. It had surprised her that there were no lights shining from the water. They seemed to have all gone elsewhere, perhaps to where Tom said they hid; below the waves.

She wrapped the towel securely around her chest and started drying her hair.

What she didn't understand was the anger directed at Tom. No, she did understand. Russ had to blame someone for losing his wife and baby and Tom was who everyone was blaming right now. And by the look in Tom's eyes he'd been expecting it. They were resigned and if she and Jesse hadn't stepped into help she didn't know what would have happened. Would Russell have killed Tom? Russell believes that Tom killed his wife and  
unborn child, and anyone would take revenge for that.

Tom didn't directly deny killing Larkin but the look in his eyes when Russell said she was dead spoke volumes. There was shock, rage and… fear. Maybe he was truly scared that Russell would succeed in killing him. There's still hope though. While Larkin's body is missing Russell can have hope. And so can Tom.

"Hi Mare."

It was Tom. Mariel watched him walk past her and begin to clean his teeth.

"Hi. We don't still have to do that, do we?" She gestured to the toothbrush.

He smiled at her. "Fraid so."

"Why didn't you take the three teenagers down to the station?" Mariel asked, turning back to the mirror.

"They would have just been released like Szura."

"But won't they just come back?"

"No." The word was final and decisive and Mariel knew that they wouldn't. Tom must have put the fear of god into them, she thought with a smile. Anything to stop them coming after their family.

Tom finished, and moved till he was standing behind her. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her close "How you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

He sighed and turned Mariel so she was facing him. "That's your ex-husband down in the basement.""I know, but he tried to kill you."

"I… I don't think… I didn't know about Larkin."

She nodded. "I know. I believe you." She hugged him close.

"Thank you."

It was genuine thanks, she thought. That, of course, wasn't strange in itself but he must have believed that she'd choose Russell over him. All he needed to do was look at who she was married to right now and who she wasn't to figure out whose side she'd be on.

He smiled at her one last time and turned to leave. At the door he turned back. "Coming to bed?"

She threw her hairbrush at him and laughed. She could worry about Russell in the morning.

* * *

It was around midnight. Tom was sitting down in the basement with a still unconscious Russell. There was a quiet knock at the door.

"Yeah?"

Dave sidled in. "Hi, thought you might like some company."

Tom sighed and turned away. "Yeah." He knew that the only reason that Dave would leave a nice warm bed with probably a stash of beer under it by now would be that he had questions only Tom could answer.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Dave turned to him. "Tom?"

"Dave."

"When you were still recovering from the fight in the water and you were in your room you said something about Russell believing he'd come back. What did you mean?"

Tom glanced down at Russell and seemed to think before replying. "Russell wasn't exactly normal to begin with."

"What?" The tiredness in Dave's voice was plain.

"Had enough of us aliens?" Tom smiled at him.

Dave returned the weary smile. "Never. And don't try to change the subject."

"Russell lost his parents when he was ten years old. Correct?"

"Yeah."

"And he murdered his uncle?"

"Yeah, which makes me very scared for my life seeing as I have a nephew and two nieces. What's the point?"

"The point… is that the military will want him."

"Why would the military want him?"

"A man capable of murder would make a far better soldier than one who's never known what it feels like to kill."

"But this must have happened to killers before. They don't exactly choose the best citizens."

Tom glanced at him and raised his eyebrows but didn't comment. "The military have never got a killer for themselves before. One's never been captured."

"But we're not going to just turn him over. No one will let you do that!"

Tom shook his head at the anger in Dave's voice. "_I _or anyone else won't have to. They've tagged him and now that he's changed…"

"But why have they been keeping tags on _him _and no one else."

"He's the only killer they're interested in here."

"You mean there are more?"

"We're all capable of killing Dave. And…" Tom stood. "Whoever is with this man will be taken along with him. So the worst place he can be right now for us is with us. So we either leave him behind, or we all spend the rest of our lives trapped in a basement being experimented on. I won't do that to my kids."

As Tom walked off around the corner and Dave followed Russell's eyes flickered open.

A lot of people were pretending to sleep that night.


	8. Protection

Dave rolled over and looked at the clock on the beside table. The glowing light made him automatically shrink back and he laughed at himself. The display read 3am. He wasn't going to get to sleep. He'd never been one to stay awake over nerves but after what Tom had told him about Russell, the man who had been married to his sister, being worried was understandable.

He still couldn't believe that Larkin wasn't going to come walking through the door. She'd always been there for him, right from when they were kids up through his divorce and then her marriage. She never left him and now she was gone. He could understand Russell blaming Tom, but he knew his accusations weren't fair. Tom did everything he could to save her. It just wasn't enough.

He banged his head against the pillow a few times, and when that didn't work, decided to get up. There might be some beer down in the fridge that would send him off to sleep. He tiptoed past where Kira was now sleeping in her own room. The last thing he needed was Kira coming out of her room, Tom finding them and having another trip down to the beach, which he doubted he'd come back from a second time.

He paused at the top of the stairs. The house was quiet, eerily so, and he didn't like it. He hoped someone was still watching Russell. He didn't like the thought of him being unguarded. Dave stopped himself. This was his best mate he was thinking about. But Russell had had the look of a murderer in his eyes when he'd gone after Tom. Much like Jesse had had, only in a different way. Russell was a grown man and therefore much more dangerous, but he also was fighting to take revenge on the man that had killed his wife.

At the time, when he'd first heard that Larkin could be dead, Dave had wanted to turn on Tom himself. It was only the fact that Russ hadn't seen Larkin's body that stopped him. What if, a second after killing Tom, Larkin came through the door? What if Russell had been wrong and she had been changed but she and the baby were fine? Dave couldn't risk himself becoming a murderer for nothing. Seeing Russell angry about what he had become had been enough to prove that point.

But there was still hope. Until Larkin's body was found; until it was certain beyond all doubt that she was dead then, he wouldn't lose hope; he'd keep searching. Dave imagined that a lot of people in this house were living off hope right now. That was all that was keeping him going.

* * *

Rose was curled up in her own bed tonight and she was slowly drifting off to sleep. The walls were lined with her posters and her toys were spread across the floor. It was her room and she felt safe in it. She was sleeping right next to Mom and Daddy-Tom, and no one could hurt her.

She didn't fully understand what had happened earlier in the kitchen but she could never believe that Tom would kill Larkin deliberately. Kira had pulled her out of harm's way when her father had leapt at Tom and then Jesse had attacked their father. She hadn't known what to do then: try to save her brother who she feared now because of the fact he owned a gun or her father who had just viciously attacked Daddy-Tom. The decision had been taken from her as Kira held her back and her Mom knocked Russell out. She knew that she wouldn't have been much good nor made any difference but she couldn't have stood by and watched her two fathers kill each other. Thankfully, this time, neither could anyone else.

* * *

Kira was worried. Of course, she figured, everyone else in the house would be too but that didn't stop her. She was worried about what happened with Jesse and her Dad on the beach, about what had happened in the kitchen with Russell and her Dad, and why everything seemed to centre round her Dad, whether he meant it to or not.

She had known, despite Dave's attempted distractions, that something was wrong the minute her Dad had walked in the door. It was quite normal for him to greet Mariel with a hug but to pick her, Kira, up and spin her around wasn't. And he hugged Jesse for a bit longer than necessary. But as soon as Jess had relaxed, her Dad had let him go. It was like he was reassuring Jesse about something that only the two of them, and Dave, knew about.

What had happened in the kitchen had shocked her. She'd never considered Russell as the violent type, especially when there was no evidence for him to get violent about, but if he believed that her Dad had killed Larkin then she couldn't blame him. Anyone could see that Russell had been distraught with grief. But her Dad wouldn't commit murder without a good reason and Larkin hadn't had a gun pointed at him at any point in time.

She hadn't known what had happened with Larkin and Russell till Jesse and Mariel had carried her Dad through the door and she'd seen all the blood. She hadn't even thought of Larkin or Russell until she knew her Dad was going to be all right. But she'd seen the way Jesse had dropped Tom at the first opportunity and volunteered to check on Rose. It was if Jess couldn't bring himself to touch him, like he was a disease.

Jesse had seemed better when he arrived back with Mariel, alone, after running away. But she'd had only a few seconds to think before Dave and her Dad had burst through the door. A few minutes later she had to help carry her Dad to the bed again and she'd never forget that conversation with Dave.

_Begin flash back_

"I'm going to get some fresh bandages." Mariel said, pulling off the old ones as gently as she could and examining the bleeding flesh beneath.

Kira had waited till she'd left and could be heard moving in the kitchen before turning to Dave. "What happened out there?"

Dave glanced at her before replying and she could have sworn she saw a flash of fear in his eyes. "Jesse was just a bit messed up. He was just scared."

"Why does it sound like you're making excuses for him?" Kira laughed nervously.

"Maybe I am." Dave looked anxiously over at the door. "You promise not to tell Mariel?"

Kira nodded.

"Tom and Jess got into a fight. Tom beat him in seconds. He's just protecting Jess."

"What did Jesse do?"

Dave shook his head. "He was just, you know… shouting."

"My Dad wouldn't have attacked him just for shouting!"

Dave didn't reply. Instead, he looked down at Tom again.

"Dave," Kira said slowly. "Did Jesse have his gun?"

Dave swallowed. Mariel banged the door as she came in and he jumped. "Is it ok if I go to bed, Mariel? I feel like I've been awake forever."

"Yeah, it's fine." Mariel was obviously more worried about Tom than anyone else, and Dave slipped out without meeting either of their eyes.

He'd been waiting for her when she came up to bed. Jesse's door was closed so he must be in there. It was only about an hour till morning but she felt like she hadn't slept at all. He was standing just outside the door to the spare room and as she opened the door to hers he'd called out.

"Don't blame Jesse, Kira."

"Why not?"

"He just wanted to protect you."

_End flash back_

This had all been before the incident in the garden and now Kira knew for sure that Jesse had had the gun on the beach. Out in the garden, the utter certainty he radiated when he carried Tom's gun and pointed it at the teenagers was deadly. Kira didn't know whether he really would have shot them if they had tried to attack again. But she was terrified he would have. She was grateful to her Dad for interfering. One more minute and Jesse might have turned into a killer.

She couldn't believe that Jesse was trying to protect her by killing her Dad down on the beach. And she knew, if he tried it again, _she_ would kill him.

* * *

Dave was standing in the kitchen with a bottle of beer in one hand, leaning against the counter. Everyone else in the house must still be asleep. Kira and Jesse upstairs, Rose, Mariel and Tom down here. He sipped the cool liquid and smiled as it caught the back of his throat.

"What you doing down here, Dave?"

The voice was as cool as ice and sent a shiver down his spine. Without even turning he knew it was Tom. "Getting a beer." He waved it and looked round. Tom was standing without support from the doorframe and it looked like the wounds had healed.

"Have you told anyone about the beach?" Tom hadn't moved. Dave could have sworn the man was frozen.

Dave took a deep breath. "Not directly, no." The silence told him what would happen if he made Tom ask what he meant. "Kira."

"What!?" The fury in the voice was all too clear. "You told Kira that her step brother pointed a gun at me? We don't need more people trying to kill each other around here, especially if it involves my daughter."

"She asked, man. I told her not to blame him. It just…"

"Slipped out?" Tom suggested scathingly.

"No, it's just… I just believe that she should know that she could be walking around in the same house as a would-be-murderer, that's all!"

"Jesse is not a would-be-murderer. The gun wasn't loaded with live bullets."

"Oh come on, Tom." Dave turned fully to look at him. Tom still hadn't moved. "Me and Jess both saw the way you came in here. Practically dancing with the 'I'm so glad I'm alive cause I almost died' vibe."

Tom's eyes seemed to be burning into him. Dave couldn't hold the gaze and looked down at his feet instead.

"I still don't know why we shouldn't tell everyone about this."

Tom took a step forward and Dave's head jerked upwards. This guy was well trained at scare tactics, he thought. "You will not tell anyone else. Do I make myself clear?"

It was almost as if an icy rod had shot through Dave's heart. Tom had spoken the same words to him on the beach regarding Rose's kidnap; now it was Jesse's attempted murder, and Kira's sudden knowledge of the incident on the beach.

"No one else. I got it."

"I'm protecting them Dave. Jesse can't step up and be the man because I already am. And I don't get some big thrill out of it," Tom continued as Dave opened his mouth to interrupt. "I'm protecting my family and I can assure you I'll do it a whole lot better than Jesse will. I can protect my family and that means everyone in this house. Even you. I'm offering my protection. But… if you keep messing with my kids and telling them things that will scare them and make them not trust one another, then you won't be a member of this family. I've accepted you because Mariel has asked me to, but we've agreed: the kids will always come first."


	9. Water Dreams

Jesse threw the ball against the wall for what seemed like the millionth time that night. He couldn't sleep. He was still buzzed from what had happened in the garden. He was surprised no one but Tom had come up to talk to him about it. They were probably all fussing over Kira when the real damage had been done to him. Even when Tom did come up, it was only after spending an hour dealing with the teenagers outside and another hour with Kira. And then Tom had had the nerve to walk right into his room without even knocking and sit down on the bed!

_Begin flash back_

"Hi, Jess. How are you?"

"Peachy!"

Tom smiled. "Come on, kid…"

"I'm not a kid." Jesse climbed to his feet and threw the ball against the wall again.

"Yeah, you've made that pretty clear!"

Jesse shook his head and turned to Tom, letting the ball drop to the ground. "What do you want? Why are even up here?"

"I was worried about you."

"Yeah right." Jesse bent down and retrieved the ball, which he smacked against the wall again.

"So is your Mom."

"Ah, so that's it. She told you to come see how I was cause she's too scared to do it herself."

"No, she's not scared of you. She loves you but… she's taking a bath."

"What?" Jesse laughed in disbelief. "Taking a bath is more important than me?"

"She needs the water right now, Jess. And when she loses that we're gonna have to be there for her."

"I am there for her."

"No, you're not! You're dancing around beaches and gardens pointing guns at people. She's going to need you!"

"Why? Why would she lose the water? Are we headed for some major drought?"

Tom looked down at the carpet. "It betrays you, Jess."

Jesse faltered. "What?"

"The water. If you don't serve, it betrays you."

"Serve who?"

Tom shook his head and stood up. "I've told you that she'll need you and if you can't find it in yourself to help your mother when she needs you… well…" He walked to the door and opened it. "She'll need us, Jess. Trust me." He walked through.

_End flash back_

But I don't trust him, Jesse thought. There's no reason to trust him. He's never done anything to earn anyone's trust here. He wouldn't have succeeded in saving them from the monsters if it hadn't been for Russell, who was now laying tied up in the basement, waiting for judgment to be passed. And when had he started to refer to him as Russell?

"Dad," Jesse whispered.

* * *

Kira was sleeping soundly. She hadn't thought she'd be able to sleep with what had happened today but the story of falling asleep before your head touched the pillow was correct, tested, and marked.

Her dream was shakier this time and it wasn't about Lewis. It was that night on the quay when all the people were being herded into the water. She'd heard the shots and the screams and every single one of them she thought was her Dad. She didn't care about him killing people that night. The fact that he had to survive was all she had been thinking about.

That had been the last time she'd seen Russell when he was sane. When he moved along the side of the lorry with her Dad and pressed himself against the door as shots thundered all around them. She had wanted to get out and help her Dad so badly. She'd actually tried to sit up once, but the window exploding and raining glass down around her made her stop.

In her dream she was back there except this time one of the soldiers came to her door when her Dad was off trying to find Mariel. She did what her Dad had told her, telling the man who she was but he just knocked the gun out of her hand and pulled her out of the truck.

In reality, when she had been running from a soldier after escaping, her Dad had been there to save her, but in her dream she was thrown into the water and no one was there to help. She knew that at that point in time the lights hadn't even landed but in the dream they were all around her, pulling her beneath the waves.

She couldn't breathe.

She was so far under she couldn't see the glow of the huge flash lights that had been put up on the quay. The creatures blocked everything. They pulled her further and further down.

She couldn't breathe.

They were shaking her from side to side. They must have seen the marks on her neck. They knew she was no good. But they weren't letting her go. They were holding her down.

She couldn't breathe.

She could hear her Dad now. He must have come back and found the truck empty. But he couldn't see her under the water. He couldn't dive in and risk that she wasn't in there because there was no way to get back out.

She couldn't breathe.

"Kira!"

She could hear him calling and she opened her mouth to answer.

But she couldn't breathe.

* * *

Tom remained at the kitchen door while Dave finished his beer, and in the hall until he saw that Dave was in the spare room. He was about to go back to bed when he sensed that something was wrong and started up the stairs. Dave was fine and he didn't care about him. Jesse had finally turned out his light and was sleeping. But Kira… Tom ran to her room, wincing as he leant all his weight on his still fragile right leg.

He knocked once on her door and when he got no answer burst in. She hated him doing that and rightly so, but right now all he cared about was if his baby was all right or not.

He saw her tossing and turning in bed, obviously having a nightmare. He crossed the room and gently shook her shoulders. When she didn't respond he shook them harder and called her name. She was mouthing something. He couldn't tell what it was and shook her harder. She had to wake up.

And she did. Kira's eyes snapped open but they were unfocused. Her teeth sank into his hand and he yelped, tugging his hand away.

"Oh my god! I'm sorry! Are you all right Dad?"

He glanced up at her. "Ouch."

"I'm sorry." She moved over to him and pulled out his hand. "Why were you in here?"

"You were having a nightmare!"

She glanced up at him and swallowed. "We should get a bandage for this."

* * *

"What were you dreaming about?" Tom asked Kira. They were downstairs and she was wrapping his hand in a bandage.

She paused before answering. "The night on the quay."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. I know it was just a dream. But I can promise you I'll never be going near the water again."

"That would be a good thing!" Tom nodded.

"Yeah." Kira continued to wrap the same bandage around his hand, thinking.

"Um Kira?"

"Mm?"

"Kira?"

She jumped. "Yes?"

"Don't you think you've put enough on that hand?" Kira glanced down at the hand which was now covered in about three or four centimeters of bandage as Tom continued.

"Mariel's going to think you bit my whole hand off!"

* * *

Mariel got up at around five in the morning. She'd gone to bed earlier than usual last night and knew she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep this morning. She hoped the kids were still in bed although Tom was up. She could hear movement from the kitchen and pulled on her dressing gown before going to investigate.

She found Tom perched on a stool with what looked like a broken hand. "Oh my god! What's happened?" She hurried over.

Kira and Tom exchanged sheepish looks and she stopped. "Explanation please." Kira remained silent so she turned to Tom. "Tom?"

"Well, I think I must have…caught my hand in the basement door and…shouted cause it hurt… and then Kira came down to see what was wrong and…here we are."

"Uh huh?"

Tom looked ready to argue but closed his mouth when he saw her face. Glancing down at his hand he shrugged his shoulders. "Give me some credit. I made that up on the spot!"

Mariel was about to ask again but Kira started forward. "Uh, Mariel?"

"Yes?"

"I bit him."

Mariel looked from Kira's apologetic face to Tom's sheepish one and burst out laughing. "I'm just not going to ask! But I think you've put a bit much on it, Kira! Go get some tape so we can fasten it."

Kira happily handed the bandage over to Mariel and left the room. Mariel unwrapped the bandage and looked at Tom's hand. "Wow just what did you do to that girl?"

"Don't sound so accusing! I only woke her up!"

"There's nothing such as 'only woke them up' with teenagers!"

"Now I know that ok!"

She smiled and then kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Kira came back in with the tape. "Got it. Any chance of breakfast?"

Mariel groaned. "Ok, ok."

"I'll do it." Tom offered.

"Would you? Thanks." Mariel finished fastening the bandage. "I'm going to have a bath then."

"Mare!"

"I know. I know. Use it while it lasts, yeah?" Mariel smiled and, picking up the leftover bandages and tape, left the room.

"What's wrong with her taking a bath Dad?"

Tom looked at the door before answering. "Nothing. Nothing at all. Now Kira, Rosie. What do you want for breakfast?"

Kira turned to see Rose standing in the doorway, smiling, and felt like she hadn't been told something very important.

* * *

Tom and Dave were walking through the hall. It had almost been like Dave could sense the word 'breakfast' and had been down there the second Tom had asked what Rose and Kira wanted. The two girls were now sitting with Mariel in the kitchen eating pancakes.

"What are you going to tell Mariel about leaving Russ?" Dave questioned.

"The truth."

"You think you can manage that?" Dave had seen him but Tom had to turn. Jesse was standing in the doorway down to the basement.

"Jesse…" Tom started.

"No, it's fine Tom. If I have to choose between a father who isn't there anymore and looking after my little sister, I know which one I'll choose. Just be careful it's still you making the decisions when the time comes to make the choice." Jesse moved past them and started up the stairs. At the top he paused. "Russell's awake." And then continued to his room.

"Jesse, man!" Dave called out and ran after him.

Tom watched them go and then turned and started towards the basement door. When he reached it he paused, checking there was no one around before entering. When he reached the bottom of the stairs the first thing he noticed was the chair by the bed, the one that Jesse must have been using, had been knocked to the ground. Russell's eyes were on him and there was an unchecked power in them. Tom slowly turned and fastened the door behind him.

"Come to kill me?"

"Of course not, Russell. I just want to talk."


	10. Secrets Overheard

It was around 8am and Jesse, Kira and Rose were all sitting around the kitchen table. Tom had made another round of pancakes and was taking a shower. Mariel was guarding Russell and Dave was filling up the cars with gas.

"More?" Asked Rose hopefully.

"How can you still be hungry?" Kira was full to bursting and she hadn't even finished her first portion.

"More?"

Kira sighed "Do you know how to cook pancakes, Jess?"

Jesse raised his head, surprised that Kira had spoken to him. "Um, yes." He paused. "Hopefully."

"All right!" said Kira. "Come on, we can all do it."

"I need to go to the bathroom." Rose sprinted from the room.

"Anything to get out of work!" Jesse smiled and his heart leapt when Kira smiled back.

* * *

"You realize Tom wants to leave me?" Russell spoke.

Mariel, who had been watching him for a good hour, shook her head.

"Yep. Down here with Dave. Got him to agree."

Mariel wasn't sure she believed Russell. Why would Tom just leave Russell tied up down here and where would they go anyway?

A few moments later, when Mariel obviously wasn't going to say anything, Russell continued. "I wonder why he hasn't told you."

"Stop trying to get me to doubt him."

Russell leapt on her words. "Why? Has he given you any reason not to?"

"Yes." Mariel replied.

"What?"

After a pause: "Everything."

* * *

Tom stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. Getting another he dried his hair. He was glad of the shower. If he had to sit in a bath of water every time he had to wash he would have gone crazy.

There was a slight knock at the door. "Come in."

Mariel entered. "Hi."

"Hi." He smiled at her, and when he didn't get a reply, frowned. "You all right?"

"When were you going to tell me we're leaving Russell behind?"

Tom groaned inwardly and swallowed. "In about five minutes actually."

"You were?" Marie replied skeptically.

"Yes!"

"Dave already knows though doesn't he?"

"Well… he asked."

Mariel shook her head. "He thought I shouldn't trust you."

"Dave?"

"Russell."

"Why wouldn't you?"

"Just look at what's gone on since the hurricane Tom. You've lied to me so much!"

"I wanted to protect you! But I've never done this before."

"That's comforting." Mariel spoke with a sarcastic tone. "It's good to know you haven't got other wives you're doing this to."

Tom took a deep breath and counted to ten. "I'm doing the best I can."

"Well." Mariel leant against the counter. "You're going to have to start being honest with me."

"What do you want to know?"

"Why do we have to leave Russell behind?"

"He left that part out then, did he?"

"Tom!"

"The military wants him!"

Mariel paused, open mouthed, and looked at him. "What?"

"Well, at least you believe me there!"

"Why would the military want Russell of all people?"

"He's a murderer, Mare."

"Oh no," laughed Mariel. "You're not pulling that one."

"They want him because he'll be a much better soldier than someone who's never killed!"

"Dave might believe that crack pot theory..."

"It's true!"

Mariel paused. "So why don't they just get you."

Tom gritted his teeth and stared at her. "I don't interest them, but thanks for that!" He threw the towel he had been using on his hair round his shoulders and walked past her to the door.

She caught him on the arm as he reached for the handle. "I'm sorry, Tom. I didn't mean that."

He turned back to her. "I don't know why they don't want me. But I'm certainly not going to push the point. I have no problem with letting them having Russell down in one of _their_ basements as long as it's not me, you, or the kids down there instead of him."

Mariel nodded. "I get that but…"

"I'd sacrifice everything for you, Mare. I'll tell you anything. Just ask."

"What…What do they want him for? Other than being a soldier."

Tom looked at the ground and then back up into her eyes but remained silent.

"Tom?"

"I…You…" Tom swallowed. "Experiments."

Mariel gasped.

Tom continued. "I didn't want to tell you cause I thought you wouldn't want to leave him behind, but the military have a whole base that is dedicated to experimenting on us."

"Oh my god."

"That was why I backed off of the military. I found out. They showed me and threatened they'd have me down there if I didn't co-operate. The looks in those men's eyes Mare."

Mariel drew him to her and hugged him close. He was shaking. "I wouldn't let that happen to you, baby."

Tom suddenly stiffened and pulled away. He took a deep breath and looked at Mariel's questioning face. "If it's a choice… a choice between leaving me down there or getting you and the kids captured then you will let it happen."

"No…"

"Yes." Tom swallowed again. "I _will_ sacrifice everything for you. And if you're captured as well as me then the kids will have no one."

"I'd keep the kids out of it."

"Even if you do you won't do anything!"

"Yes! I would!"

"Mare…"

"Let me ask you something, Tom," Mariel looked him straight in the eye. "If I was captured, would you just leave me?"

* * *

"Jesse? Kira?"

"Yes, Rose."

"Why does the military want Dad?"

"What?" Kira dropped the flour she was carrying and Jesse dropped the pan.

"Only I heard Mom and Daddy-Tom talking about Dad…" Kira seemed to relax slightly. "And he said the military wants Dad."

"Did they say why, Rose?" Jesse crossed to her and knelt down. She moved back slightly but seemed reassured when it seemed he just wanted an answer.

"They want him to be a soldier and experiment."

Jesse looked at Kira. "Did you know…?"

"No." She shook her head.

Jesse turned back to Kira. "What else did they say?"

"Daddy-Tom said he's sacrificing himself."

"What?" Kira was down by Jesse's side in an instant.

Rose continued, loving being the centre of attention. "He told Mom to leave him and look after us."

"I won't let that happen!" Kira shook her head. "What else did they say Rose?"

"I don't know. I couldn't hear through the door very well."

Jesse rose, pacing around the kitchen. "I knew we had to leave Russ but…" he stopped. "Doesn't this seem at all odd to you?"

"How?" Kira stood up as well. Now that no one was paying any attention to Rose she crossed to the dropped pan and started to eat the pancake in it.

"It just seems… sudden, that's all."

"We're all wishing things would slow down, Jess, but…"

"Hey." Tom walked into the kitchen and then stopped. Jesse and Kira glanced at each other anxiously, but realized Tom was looking at the kitchen, rather then them, in horror. "Ah." Kira waved her hand at the kitchen. "We can explain… some of this."

"Ok. Then will you care to tell me what the flour's doing turning the floor white, why the pan is upside down, and why Rose is eating raw pancakes?" Tom crossed over to Rose and hoisted her away from the offending food.

Jesse laughed nervously. "Productive cooking?"


	11. Family Resemblance

Jesse and Kira were sitting up in Kira's room. After the fiasco in the kitchen, Tom helped them clean everything up before Mariel found out, banning Jesse from the cooker for life. Rose had been sent out of the room and then they'd been fed the story about why they had to leave Russell behind. Apparently he was suffering from a mental illness he'd had since killing his Uncle during childhood. It had been triggered when he'd been changed and he was now a danger. Tom and Mariel had been planning to leave all along, and now they had to take Jesse and Rose along with them, instead of leaving them with Russell.

Jesse and Kira hadn't believed a word of it but they'd avoided any difficult questions. It seemed to them that the lie was even more extravagant than the supposed truth. They were meant to be up here packing now. Dave was ready with all he owned contained in a box. He said he didn't want to go back to Russell and Larkin's house and who could blame him? He'd checked in on them a couple of times but was now waiting in the front garden. Mariel was helping Rose pack and Tom was packing food in the kitchen.

"Why do you think they lied to us?" Kira asked.

"I don't know. I'm still not sure your Dad didn't kill Larkin." Kira scowled at him and he shrugged. "What am I meant to believe?"

"My Dad didn't kill her."

"Ok then." Jesse got up to his knees from their position next to one another on the floor and faced her. "What's your explanation?"

"They're trying to protect us."

"Hah!" Jesse flopped back down. "That one never gets old does it?"

"What if they are?" Kira asked.

Jesse stared at her before replying. "It's the strangest protection I've ever seen."

"But my Dad said he was sacrificing himself for us!"

"That was what Rose said." Jesse corrected her.

"So now you think your sister's lying. Do you trust anyone?"

"After what's happened, why should I? And Rose is just a kid."

"So are we, Jess."

"No, we're not. They've made us responsible. They've let us in on their lie."

"Why shouldn't we believe them?"

"Why should we?"

"Mariel's your Mom, Jess."

"If the same thing that's happened to my Dad has happened to her, then no, she's not."

"Jess…"

"No!"

"At least you still have a Mom."

"At least you still have a Dad that you're not going to leave behind."

"Jesse?"

"What?"

"You won't try to kill Tom again."

Jesse turned to her to begin denying it, but the words caught in his throat. Kira was staring him right in the face, and she had the same powerful and dangerous look in her eyes that Tom had had down on the beach when he thought his life was in danger.

Jesse involuntarily shrank back.

* * *

Rose watched her Mom fold a t-shirt, and place it carefully in a rucksack, from her perch on the bed.

She, Jesse, and Kira had formed a kind of un-spoken bond in the kitchen. She'd noticed their reactions and Rose knew that she had heard something she shouldn't have. She didn't want to lose Daddy-Tom just after losing her real father. It didn't seem fair to her when she thought of all the children at school, before any of this had happened, that lived with both their real mother and father, together. When she had said this, the teacher had said she was lucky because she had two mummies and two daddies. She'd thought then that the teacher was saying that it was always good to have a spare set of parents and it seemed to represent this situation very well. Larkin and Dad had been replaced by Mom and Daddy-Tom.

Mom had told her that Dad was ill and was going to be taken to hospital. When she'd asked why he was tied up, Mom had said so he didn't hurt himself. Rose didn't understand why Mom and Daddy-Tom didn't just tell her the lie they'd told Jesse and Kira or even tell all of them the truth. Wasn't it always best if you were truthful?

Mom pulled the rucksack she'd been packing clothes in off the bed and handed it to Rose.

"Put this in the car, ok."

Rose nodded and hurried outside. Dave was leaning against the side of Russell's truck, but straightened up as he saw her approach.

"Let me get that for you, kiddo."

Rose thankfully relinquished the bag and pulled open the front door. Dave clambered into the back behind her.

"How long are they gonna be, Rose?"

Rose shrugged her shoulders and pulled a teddy bear from under her seat. Dave smiled. He'd given that to her for her third birthday and it was still going strong.

* * *

Mariel walked into the kitchen. Tom was standing by the table loading up three bags full of food. He turned his head as he heard her come in, propping the bags up on the table, and smiled.

"You ok?"

"All right I suppose, considering the circumstances."

Tom nodded.

"Tom?"

"Mmm?"

"Why didn't we tell Jess and Kira the truth?"

"I see you don't ask about Rose."

"Rose is just a kid."

"Exactly." Tom sighed and turned to face her. "So are Jess and Kira. They shouldn't have to know what we're leaving Russ behind for."

Mariel pulled a chair away from the counter and sat. "You know that they don't believe us."

Tom smiled and leant against he table. "They're not stupid."

Mariel nodded. "I'm worried they might try to stay behind."

"We're not going to leave them, Mare." Tom crossed the room and pulled her off the chair and into a hug. "Trust me?"

Mariel nodded. "I'll check on them."

Tom nodded and turned back to the table, picking up a can of soup. Mariel sighed and left the kitchen, pulling the door closed.

"Mariel?"

She looked up. Kira was standing at the top of the stairs.

"Yes?"

"Can you help me pack?"

Mariel nodded and started up the stairs.

"Where's Jesse?"

Kira shrugged. Mariel noticed she didn't seem to care. "Must be out with Dave." Mariel glanced at the front door and then followed Kira into her room.

As she and Kira moved out of sight, Jesse glanced up from his position behind the kitchen door.

* * *

Tom waited until he was sure that Mariel was up the stairs and then made his way to the bags on the table. He pulled out the gun he'd used to prop them up with and went back to his task of loading it.

"Those live?"

Tom swore under his breath.

"Ooh. Better not let Mom hear you using language like that." Jesse sauntered into the room. He seemed too assured, Tom thought. For someone who had tried to kill him recently, Jesse was looking way too comfortable in his presence.

"So," Jesse moved round the table to the bags and looked into them. "Wow, you actually packed food and not _all _bullets."

Tom turned and slammed his hands down on the table.

"_Easy_…"

Oh, Tom wasn't having this. He left the gun on the table and slammed Jesse against the wall. "What do you want, Jess? Huh?" He'd expected the kid to struggle and apologize but instead the violence only seemed to spur him on.

"Yeah? What's Mom gonna do if she comes down and finds me dead? Huh?"

Tom let go of Jess and turned back to the table, laughing. "I'm not gonna kill you, Jesse."

"You might as well be killing my dad, though."

Tom threw himself into a chair by the table and stared at Jesse. The first sign of wariness appeared in the kid's eyes. Tom realized that Jesse was a lot like him. Fighting was easy but mind games, when they were directed at you, weren't.

Tom continued to stare at Jesse. He knew that the kid couldn't beat him, physically or mentally.

Sure enough Jesse broke the silence. "You're just gonna leave him here."

Tom remained silent. Jesse didn't know anything, and he wouldn't stay behind without Rose.

Jesse swallowed. His eyes fell from Tom's and they both knew that Tom had won. Jesse started towards the door. Tom didn't move. There was no point in scaring him any more.

Just before leaving Jesse paused. "I don't know why for sure the government wants him, but I won't let my Dad be experimented on while you escape. I promise you."

Tom could have sworn again, but what was the point? What was the point of trying to keep secrets in this house?

He picked up the gun off the table. Why didn't he just shoot himself now and save everyone the trouble?


	12. Give Me Madness Any Day

The truck with its five occupants roared along the twisting way of the forest road. Tom was driving, eyes fixed on the road ahead, despite Mariel's repeated attempts to catch his eye from her position next to him. In the back, Jesse and Kira were perched on the lower railing to the left. Dave had given up telling them to get down and had, instead, settled down on the right side with Rose sleeping against him.

* * *

"Do you know where he is?" Colonel Sabrina Lopez was seated behind an oak desk. She was leaning back in her chair and held a self-assured look on her face.

"I will." The man who replied was standing to attention, with his hands clasped tightly behind his back. He was wearing green and black khaki and adorned a pair of pristine army boots. His face was shrouded in the darkness of the desk lamp, casting a menacing shadow onto the wall behind him.

Sabrina, however, did not seem even mildly intimidated. She stood smoothly, sliding from her seat like a viper. "Well, you'd better hurry. Unless you want to answer to my superiors."

* * *

Dave was drifting off when a scream echoed through his drowsy brain and his sense of what was up and what was down told him he had been thrown to the floor of the truck. He jolted upright, waking Rose in the process, who had been curled up beneath the seats between Kira and Jesse's suitcases.

The truck was still moving, but slowing, slewing to the right. Dave could see trees on either side of him, but they were blurred slightly as if he had underwater goggles on. He lifted his hand to his head and felt something wet.

* * *

Tom's hands gripped the steering wheel tighter as he had to blink a few times to stop himself slipping into sleep. He was so concentrated on keeping on the road, and not crashing, he didn't even notice that the air smelled different until Mariel clutched at his arm.

"Tom!"

"What is it?" He planned the road ahead so he would know when to turn the steering wheel and turned to her, following her terrified eye line to the trees on the right. He saw nothing but, now that he could focus, he sensed a change of atmosphere, of smell, of general feeling in the air. It was one of danger. The next thing he knew the truck careened out of control as it lurched high into the air. Trees were rushing through the air and he slung the wheel wildly to the right, praying that the wheels would make contact with something before he crashed.

* * *

Jesse was daydreaming about going back to the house and saving his father. The military would show up and he would fight them off. Then he and Dad would rescue Rose, Dave, and Mom from Tom's clutches and ride off into the sunset. One big happy family.

He was holding onto one of the support beams with one hand and was jerked from his fantasy by Kira poking him. He shot a questioning look her way and she nodded toward Dave and Rose. The two were asleep on the opposite seat, Rose curled against Dave's shoulder. Jesse glanced back at Kira and felt a stab of happiness in the middle of all this despair around him when Kira smiled softly. They never could manage to stay mad at each other for long. Who else were they going to talk to about what was happening?

He heard his Mom call out to Tom but didn't turn to see what she was saying. Neither, he noticed, did Kira. She was looking the other way, at the road behind them, watching the dust churn up from their tyres. Jesse glanced away from her to the forest behind Dave and Rose. The trees were a mixture of green and black. It didn't look like you read in books, Jesse thought. He didn't see swirling colours, radiating life; all he saw was hard green against unforgiving black, with a blue undertouch.

Wait, blue. Jesse had blinked for a second and when he looked again, the blue was gone and the trees were swaying as normal. He turned his head to follow the place he had seen the blue flash but the bushes didn't move, the leaves littering the floor didn't shift; everything was still and peaceful.

Then Jesse heard Kira scream. His whole soul froze when he whipped round, and Kira was a shape becoming smaller by the second, as opposed to a real and solid object next to him. She was lying on the ground, face down and unmoving, and all Jesse knew was that he had to move, had to get to her.

He stood and lurched towards the back of the truck, almost tripping over Dave, who was stirring, as the floor beneath his feet disappeared in a rush and he felt himself connect with one of the supports and fly over the rail onto the ground below.

* * *

Dave clung to the railings as the world rushed by. Either he was really, really drunk, or Tom had lost control of the truck. He noticed that neither Jesse nor Kira were anywhere in sight, but he had no hope of finding them. He couldn't let go of the supports or Rose, who was holding onto him like her life depended on it. Which, Dave thought, was a pretty astute observation.

He tried twisting around to see into the driver's section and managed to make out a limp image of Tom unconscious over the wheel. Mariel was trying to heave him off of it so she could take control, but it looked as if Tom's foot was pressed on the accelerator.

"Mariel!"

Dave's scream was overpowered by the noise of the truck coming into contact with something heavy and the floor seemed to come rushing up to meet himself and Rose. His view of Mariel and Tom was torn away as he was thrown bodily across the floor, away from Rose, over the end of the trailer.

* * *

He thrashed in his bonds, hissing madly as they remained secure. He let out an unearthly roar and lurched into a standing position, before collapsing to the floor. He whimpered as his head came into contact with concrete and his vision fogged. He shook his head wildly and strained at the ropes that bound him.

His ears seemed to prick up as the harsh sound of wood splintering tore through his silent world. He barred his teeth menacingly towards the noise and stilled in his movements. He ceased breathing, and narrowed his eyes until all he could see were two thin lines of light, reverberating and eventually disappearing because of the pressure behind his eyelids.

* * *

Tom stirred. His first thought was whether they were still in the air, which suggested he was concussed. He pulled his head off the steering wheel, slowing when he felt a wave of nausea overcome him. He swallowed gingerly and blinked a few times. A tree came into focus in front of him. He hoped they hadn't crashed into it. This car didn't have airbags and he couldn't even remember if anyone had been wearing seat belts. Certainly those in the back hadn't been.

He tried to look to his right to see if Mariel was all right. Instead of doing what he told it, his body decided to throw itself to the left. As he crashed through the door and onto the leafy floor, his vision shook again and became blurry. He tried raising his head and tried to push himself up, but his movements were uncoordinated.

He stretched a hand out, trying to claw himself to a sitting position. Before he could accomplish this, however, a black boot clad foot came down hard on his hand and he hissed in pain. He managed to tilt his head upwards but all he could make out was a black balaclava before the boot came crashing down onto his head.

* * *

Mariel struggled with her seat belt, but it seemed to be stuck fast. She had already checked on the unconscious Tom, who hadn't been wearing a seat belt, she noted. She couldn't see any of the kids or Dave in the back.

She'd simply been looking out of the window at the forest when she'd felt the danger. Tom had told her how instinct could be her best friend if she allowed it, and she didn't know whether she was glad or not that he'd been right. As soon as she'd got Tom's attention centred on the forest he'd felt it too, but she hadn't even had time to call out a warning when she saw the fallen tree across the road.

There was a movement from Tom and she glanced round to see him leaning back against the seat. He didn't seem hurt but had his eyes closed and was breathing shallowly.

"Tom?" Mariel reached out to him but he threw himself away from her, through the door and outside. Her confusion was replaced with worry when he immediately folded to the floor and began to scrabble at the leaves.

She was about to call out to him again when she saw a shadow fall across his body. She shrank back into her seat but continued to tug at her seat belt, trying to make as little movement as possible.

She watched, helpless, as her husband was knocked unconscious. She wanted to scream at how unfair it was. Wasn't it enough that he'd been shot and almost killed? Why did these people have to keep coming?

The man who'd kicked Tom bent down and rolled him onto his back, seeming to pause for several seconds, studying his face. He then glanced at Mariel and turned away, heading towards the back of the truck. All Mariel's thoughts were now for her children as she wrestled with the seat belt, desperate to stop whoever that was from harming any more of her family.

* * *

The man strode out of the forest, onto the brightly lit beach. He glanced up, directly into the sun. His sunglasses protected his eyes from the glare of the massive ball of fire and a tightly drawn smile protruded from his lips, thinking how easy it was to defeat even this prey.

He drew close to the water's edge, sinking to his knees and running a hand through the water lazily. He glanced out, trying to see past the horizon, past the waves, past the millions of lights that seemed to be dancing to the sun's rhythm.

The water was sparkling in the light and the only reason he didn't stay there for longer was the movement to his left. Still, he didn't take his eyes off the water as he rose and walked across the sand, parallel to the water's edge.

When he reached his target he returned to his knees and, tearing his eyes from the water almost wistfully, glanced at the body beneath him. It was lying slightly on its side and, as he turned it over, the sun's reflection flashed against his smile.

* * *

Kira sucked in a breath and coughed roughly. It felt as if she had honey in her mouth. She spat onto the ground and saw red. She took a shaky breath, forcing herself to look away from the blood and check herself over. She didn't seem to be bleeding from her head and, as she spat onto the ground again, she noticed part of a tooth in the thick mess.

She had a moment to feel sicker than she'd ever felt in her life before a hand grabbed her roughly by the hair and hauled her upright. Twisting around she saw a white scream mask, before a hand across the face made her dizzy again, and her attacker pulled her with him, whether towards or away from the truck she didn't know.

* * *

Mariel had managed to squirm her way beneath her seat belt and out of the door and was half sitting, half crouching, against the side of the truck. She couldn't see anything in the surrounding forest, but she could see Jesse, sprawled half underneath the truck, his legs about an inch away from the back wheels. As she moved to his side she prayed that the front ones hadn't gone over his legs.

He seemed to be all right so she dragged him out from beneath the truck, propping him up against a tree.

"Jesse? Are you all right?" Her words had no effect and she shook his shoulders slightly. "Jesse?"

This time he stirred. "Mom?"

It was astonishing at how that single word could make everything all right again, she thought, as Jesse clung to her shoulder. "Do you feel all right?"

Jesse nodded weakly. His eyes suddenly snapped open. "Where's Kira?"

They both heard the scream. And the gunshot that followed.


	13. Eye For An Eye

Dave found himself being hauled to his feet, and spun himself round, sending a blind punch towards whoever was holding him. His fist caught a jaw covered in a black balaclava. The person holding him didn't even flinch, more probably ignoring him, as Dave was half dragged, half carried, towards the mangled wreck of the truck. He struggled, doing his best to escape, but to no avail. At one point he even threw his entire weight into the small frame of the enemy, but he didn't even make the man stumble.

Hybrid, thought Dave, and found himself overcome with an unadulterated wave of hate. Where first there had been curiosity and wonder, now all that remained was a hate and fear of something different... that was trying to kill him.

* * *

Mariel was frozen for a split second before she had to pull Jesse back, away from the truck and the gunshot, to the relative safety of the tree they were crouched beneath.

"No! Jesse!" She hissed the words just loud enough for her son to hear, scared that whoever had fired the gun would find them next.

"But Kira might be hurt."

Once again Mariel pulled Jesse back and this time pinned him to the tree. "I'll go have a look, okay? But I need you to promise me you'll stay here, yeah?"

Jesse nodded weakly, though Mariel knew he would probably try to follow her. It wasn't so much a question of if he would try, but one of he would try and fail, she thought, as she spied the chunk of metal sticking out of his leg, at an odd angle.

Mariel took a deep breath and stood shakily, making her way, step by step, over to the truck. As she glanced inside, hoping against hope that everyone was in there, safe and sound, her eyes picked out a hole in the floor of the truck, edges jagged and smeared with blood.

Trying not to think about Jesse she turned and made her way slowly along the length of the truck, which was almost certainly a write off. Before she got two paces, however, a crash met her ears, coming from the other side of the truck. She ducked down, making her way unsteadily back to Jesse, knowing that she had to make sure he was safe.

Sure enough, when she arrived back at the tree, she saw he had tried to follow her. Right now he was half way through trying to pull the chunk of metal out of his leg. Mariel stopped him quickly, checking over the wound with expert hands.

"No, Jesse. That's the only thing stopping you from bleeding to death."

She finished the check on his leg and moved upwards to his arms, bending each of them at the elbow. At the lack of response she glanced up, and was startled by the shocked look on Jesse's face. He was staring at a point behind her shoulder, a look of terror, anger, and sorrow on his face.

She followed his eye line and, as ashamed as she was to admit it, what she saw made her forget about Jesse completely. A man was hurrying away through the trees on the opposite side of the truck, an unconscious Rose cradled in his arms. This man wore no mask, just a plain blue anorak and, as he reached a group of dense trees, he turned back and fixed on her with his eyes, smiling menacingly.

"Rose!" The scream escaped her throat and before she knew what she was doing Mariel was up and running. She could see the man disappearing into the trees, picking up his pace. But by the time she had reached the truck she could no longer see him. He was gone.

Him and her baby girl.

* * *

The bonds were pulled off the bloody wrists, and cloth was pressed gently to the wounds. The unconscious body was lifted up and carefully placed on a stretcher, trailing chains that didn't seem to come off, and so had been disconnected at the wall.

Clipped footsteps cut through the night air as four men carried the stretcher and its occupant outside, through a broken down door. Another two men were waiting, one with a bandage to wrap the head wound in, the other with a syringe.

The second man injected the unconscious one in the shoulder. A few seconds later, the screaming began.

* * *

The man in the white scream mask pulled Kira along roughly by the hair, paying no heed to her whimpers of pain. He tugged her behind a tree and clamped a hand over her mouth, eyes darting wildly beneath the plain cardboard.

"You know..." He fixed his eyes on hers. "You're going to pay for what your father's done."

Kira tried to scream again, her eyes wide and pleading. These must be hybrids, wanting revenge for that night on the quay. But it was time for her dad to rescue her. He was always there for her. Now she needed him.

She had a second of hope as the man pulled her out from behind the tree and made towards the wrecked truck, but that hope was buried when she realised there was no one there. The truck lay in a heap, metal missing from several places, a wing mirror with its glass shattered lying on the ground, and blood spattering the leaves. But her family were gone.

That was when she heard the gunshot. And felt it too. Has he shot me, Kira thought? Her arm was burning with white hot, undiluted pain. She tried to breathe but couldn't. It was her nightmare coming to life.

She collapsed, sobbing, and was surprised when the man didn't haul her back to her feet. She heard a thud from behind her, before the whole world went dark.

* * *

Jesse's vision was drifting in and out of focus, and his leg felt like it was being ripped off. As his mother returned to his side he forced words into his mouth, slurring them slightly with the effort.

"Mom? Where... where's Rose?"

Mariel just shook her head, and pulled Jesse to her.

Jesse didn't even have time to feel angry, or defeated, or any number of the hundreds of emotions he had felt over the past few months. Before he even had time to process the words a crash came from behind the truck and both he and Mariel looked up.

From their position they could see the left side of the truck clearly, and what happened next. There were two more crashes, before Tom came flying over the width of the truck, landing in an untidy heap. Mariel was about to move forward, but Jesse gripped her arm. A second later a man in a white scream mask leaped onto the truck from the opposite side, clearing the truck in his next bound and landing on Tom.

Jesse could see the bullet wound in the man's chest, and fervently hoped that had been the only one fired. The man and Tom were fighting tooth and nail, neither really having the room to manoeuvre.

Just as Mariel made to start forward again Tom rolled on top of the other man, delivering two sharp punches to the face, before being thrown off, over the truck and down the other side. No human could have done that, Jesse thought.

The man in the scream mask crawled slowly to his feet and turned his head towards them. He seemed to smile, the mask contorting, and stepped forwards.

"Second best will do."

Jesse had no idea what he meant by that but, as Mariel pulled him to his feet, he knew he didn't have a hope in hell of out running this hybrid.

* * *

Tom cried out in pain as he was thrown hard against one of the trees. All he knew about his opponent was that he was a hybrid. He had no idea why this one was attacking him. He had thought they were all getting ready for what was coming next, not coming after him, someone who was relatively unimportant.

The white scream mask hybrid leaped at him, snarling. Tom moved slightly to the left, swatting the man away, using all the strength and ability gifted to him as a hybrid to fight off this masked adversary.

He was seized by the collar of his shirt, and the next thing he knew the truck was beneath him, and then the ground. He rolled over, slightly winded, to be met with the hybrid again. They rolled back and forth across the ground, before Tom managed to pin the man beneath him and deliver two punches to the side of his head, designed to knock him out.

The hybrid, however, was strong, and remained conscious, at least long enough to throw Tom off him, at a height a human never would have managed, and away, over the truck.

* * *

Mariel moved Jesse behind her, ignoring his protests, and readied herself to meet the challenge of this hybrid. She had seen from the way he and Tom had fought, that hybrids were stronger than humans. And if Tom could do it, so could she. The man before her lent back slightly before springing across the forest floor, aiming to close the gap.

Before he could, however, another body flew at him, knocking him out of the air and onto the ground. Mariel didn't know whether to be relieved, as she saw the second person was Kira, who seemed relatively unharmed apart from a cut lip and a bloody arm, or doubly scared from the fact that the hybrid leaped to his feet and fixed an arm tight around Kira's throat.

"Not one more step." The hybrid exaggerated each word was a wave of his free hand. "As I said to you." He gripped Kira tighter and she whimpered. "You will pay for what _he _has done."

"He means Dad," Kira managed to choke out.

Mariel swallowed. "Look, why don't you just let her go? You're a hybrid. You must have come from the town. So you must know us. Don't hurt her."

The hybrid seemed to consider, before tightening his grip once again. Behind her, Jesse screamed at him. "Why are you doing this?"

The hybrid sniffed. "An eye for an eye. A life for a life. I think that's how the old saying goes."

"What do you mean?" Mariel asked.

"Your husband took from me the only thing I had left in the world. So I'll take all he has left."

The hybrid began to twist Kira's head off her shoulders.


	14. Not A Fairy Tale

Rose sleepily opened one eye. At first she didn't notice that the way she was moving was completely different from the way she should be moving, considering they were meant to be in a truck. There should be a gentle shake coming through the floor, and she should be leaning against Dave.

Instead of this, however, she was being shaken up and down, and was being carried by someone who was running. She felt the person holding her pause and turn to look back the way they'd come, before running on. She slid open her other eye, and focused on a middle aged man, with dirty brown hair, wearing a blue anorak, and a look of triumph on his face.

"Who are you?"

The man glanced down at her, seemingly considering something. Making an apparent decision, he smiled at her.

"You all right?"

Rose nodded, looking round anxiously. She wriggled in the man's arms, and was surprised when he tightened his hold on her.

"You're hurting me!"

She continued to struggle in the man's arms, until a sound like a gun shot rang out through the woods. Rose recognised it from when she'd seen Jesse fire his gun. The man holding her twisted round, stumbling as he did so, falling and dropping her at the same time.

Rose rolled away from this strange man, looking hurriedly around to see whether she knew which way it was back to the truck. There were trees on every side, and the only change was a crack of light, showing a beach and the water beyond.

Despite the fact that Rose really didn't want to go anywhere near the water, as well as the fact she knew she hadn't come that way, something made her want to get out into the open, away from this man.

As she stumbled to her feet and began to move towards the light of the beach, the man behind her swore and she heard a rustle of clothing.

"Stop!" The man shouted. When she ignored him and continued running, he shouted again. "Stop or I'll shoot!"

* * *

Jesse shot forward, dodging around Mariel in a vain attempt to get to Kira before the man snapped her head off. She was crying with pain now, struggling with all her might against the grip of this mad hybrid. Said hybrid snarled warningly at Jesse, loosening the grip on Kira's throat to reach into his jacket and retrieve a gun.

Finding it pointed at him, Jesse found himself frozen with fear. How could he have been so stupid as to think he would have used one of those? You pull the trigger and you _kill_ someone. He had never thought of it like that before. How had Tom been so calm? How could anyone be brave when faced with their imminent death?

* * *

Tom coughed blood onto the ground, willing himself to stand. His chest felt as if he'd been shot. Though, when he examined himself, he felt no wound, almost like his ribs had finally decided they'd had enough punishment for one lifetime, and were trying to rip themselves out of his body.

The second time he tried to rise he managed it, clinging onto a nearby tree. When he had been thrown over the truck he had rolled a good distance away, wary of more attacks. It looked, however, as if the hybrid wasn't following him. He would like to think that it was recovering from the gunshot, but Tom knew better. He _knew _it was threatening Mariel and Jesse, and Kira again.

He started forward slowly, not letting himself fall when he let go of the tree, and made his way back towards the truck, picking up his pace as he went.

He saw a flash of blue off to his left, but all his energy was focused on getting to his family and saving them. It was probably another hybrid fleeing, when it saw its fellow shot. Tom shook his head. When had he starting thinking of hybrids as 'its', rather than brothers?

* * *

Mariel slid a hand behind her, pulling at the sliced metal embedded in the tree she and Jesse had been crouched beneath; it was sitting in the crevice it had cut out for itself. It was buried deep, but if she could just get it out, she would have a weapon.

The man pointing the gun at Jesse sneered at him beneath the mask, tugging Kira round by the hair to face him.

"What's the matter with your boyfriend? Doesn't he like seeing you in pain?"

Mariel was too occupied with the metal stuck in tree to consider how completely sexist this was. She was sure she would complain about it later. Kira, however, wasn't going to wait that long, as she spat forcefully at the masked hybrid.

The man snarled and struck her across the face, pushing her to the ground. With all his focus on Kira, Mariel saw Jesse inching forward, his face deathly pale, watching the gun all the time. Mariel wanted to shout out to him, but knew that the hybrid would hear.

It seemed for a while that Jesse had succeeded in getting out of the gunman's line of sight unnoticed. When he was only two metres away from the man, however, he was met with the gun again.

"Oh no, you don't!"

Jesse froze, a look of terror coming over his face, eyes fixed on the gun. Mariel couldn't really take any solace in the fact she knew from this experience that Jesse would never hold a gun again, as she finally got the metal free from the tree behind her, and started to inch her own way forward.

The hybrid was still talking, attention focused on Jesse, one boot resting on Kira's stomach.

"You can be the first to go then. But know who's killed you here. Cos it's not me, or any of the hybrids down in the town right now. It's her father." He nudged Kira with his boot. "He did something unforgivable. And we are the revenge."

Mariel had to speak now. Anything to get the gun away from Jesse.

"What did Tom do?"

The gun swung round to cover her, and the hybrid blinked, lip curling with hate.

"He took away the only thing that I loved."

"But why are there three of you?" Kira squeaked. The boot resting on her stomach came up to her chin, grinding it into the mud.

"He took what they loved too. That's what he does. He destroys people. That's all he's good at."

Mariel could hear the bitterness creeping into the man's voice as he continued.

"You think your husband's a hero. Well, he's not. He never could be... with the atrocities he's committed. He's the villain in this saga. He stopped us once, took from me what I loved, and won't stand up for his ideals."

"But he did," Mariel countered, manoeuvring so the metal was concealed against her wrist, careful to keep the jagged edge away from it. "He stopped you. He fought on the humans' side because he didn't want you to kill everyone."

"I didn't mean that." The hybrid giggled, and Mariel suddenly knew how mad this man actually was. What could have Tom done to him, and the others, to make them this way? "He stood up once, but the price was too high. He won't stand up again."

"But it's done." Jesse shook his head. "You're finished. The military have most of you locked up. You're not a threat. Tom made sure of that."

The hybrid sneered, shaking his head. "You think he's some great hero, fighting off the forces of evil. Well, let me just get this straight with you, kid. This ain't some fairy tale. People die, people kill, people betray their brothers." He angled his head to the left. "People run... boy. Your... "hero" knows exactly what's coming. And still he runs. He cares more for his family than his brothers. So I'm here to show him what happens when you mess with blood."

He raised the gun, pointing it at Mariel. There was no way she could cover the distance between them to stab the man.

"Goodbye." The man cocked the gun. "Know it was your husband that killed you, yeah?"

Mariel clenched her eyes shut.

The last thing she heard was a gun firing, oh-so-loud in the quiet night air.


	15. Nowhere To Run, Nowhere To Hide

Tom stumbled into another tree, raking his nails through the bark to make himself keep going. He could feel the danger his family were in, but he couldn't concentrate enough to figure out why they were in danger. No hybrid should be following them now.

He picked up his pace slightly, as he felt some strength come back into his legs. Hearing someone shout from up ahead, he changed direction slightly, knowing he would come out of the trees with the truck between him and the hybrid, providing him with some cover.

He still couldn't understand why they had come after him, or his family. Surely they weren't _that_ loyal to Szura. And no one knew who had killed him anyway.

Tom suddenly paused, coming to a dead stop in the leaves, as an unimaginably bad thought flashed through his mind. It couldn't be, he thought. He thought he'd covered his tracks. But…

Before the thought had finished Tom was off and running again, now ignoring the pain in his body, knowing as to who the hybrids were, and why they wanted to hurt his family so badly.

* * *

Dave was feeling groggy. The general adrenaline that had come with the hybrid grabbing him had worn off now, the two of them having stopped when the hybrid pulled Dave behind one of the trees, and his head was beginning to ache.

A trickle of blood ran over his eye and he blinked quickly, lifting a hand to wipe it away. The hybrid was completely focused on something past the tree, behind Dave, only one hand resting on Dave's shoulder.

The hybrid's face was full of powerful intensity, his eyes squinting to pick up something that was far away. The man's teeth were gritted together, head moving suddenly to the right and left, as if watching a tennis match.

Dave moved slightly, pushing himself round the tree, curiosity overcoming his fear yet again. At first he saw nothing then, as his eyes adjusted to the bright green background, he saw two figures fighting. He glanced cautiously at the hybrid beside him and saw that the man was watching the exchange with barely concealed excitement. Dave felt slightly sick. No wonder the military want them to be soldiers, he thought. They were ruthless killers.

He turned back to the fight, just as the two figures moved towards the mangled remains of the truck, that Dave hadn't even taken in. He'd seen so many wrecked cars over the last few months, another one wasn't going to register.

Dave realised one of the figures was Tom. The other must be another hybrid, he thought. Tom and the second hybrid were fighting like no two humans could ever accomplish. Dave found himself wincing as Tom was thrown bodily against one of the trees, although Dave had been in his fair share of rough fights.

The hybrid facing Tom was obviously strong and, as Tom pulled himself away from tree, he was seized by the collar and thrown bodily over the truck.

It was only now that Dave saw Mariel and Jesse, huddled beneath another tree, attempting to keep out of sight of the hybrid. He could see Mariel trying to help Tom, but Jesse holding her back, which was probably a good thing, Dave thought, as Tom was chucked away like a rag doll over the truck again. If Tom couldn't stand up to this hybrid, what chance did Mariel have?

* * *

Rose heard the threat that had been shouted at her, but it didn't seem to register, as she came out onto the beach. It was empty, a vast burning of sand, stretching out either side of her, and the water beyond that, devious in its innocence.

The trees were now between her and the man, who she could hear chasing her. Any naivety that said this man was her friend had now vanished, along with any hope that the open space had been the right way to go. She had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, except for the water.

Rose looked back, and turned fully when she saw the man was there, right behind her, and pointing his gun at her chest. The man was bright red in the face, limping slightly as he made his way forward.

"Fine." He spat the word, his face contorting with pain as he rested his weight on his bad ankle. "You don't want to play. I'll just shoot you."

There was suddenly a noise of rustling bushes from behind the man, and he whipped round, a look of panic on his face.

* * *

Mariel felt like she was floating, but she could feel herself drawing ragged breaths. The world seemed to be stopping and starting beneath her eye lids.

"Mom!"

"Mare!"

There were shouts. But they seemed very far away, as if they were coming through a telephone.

"Mare!"

Someone was shaking her. It hurt. Why couldn't they just leave her alone? She wanted to sleep. Why wouldn't they just let her sleep?

* * *

Jesse screamed as the hybrid lifted the gun to point at his mom. No way was he going to let this happen. He still didn't understand how Tom had stood up to him when his own life had been in danger, but now he knew only too well how Tom had done what he'd done when his family had been in danger.

Seeing the gun pointing at Mariel, the world seemed to fall away. All Jesse could see was the gun, and his mother. No way was he going to let that son of a bitch kill his mom!

Jesse launched himself across the space between them, grabbing at the gun, just as it went off. The hybrid seized him by the throat and swung him round, away from Mariel. He could see over the hybrid's shoulder that she was lying on the ground, still.

All the rage that had been buried by fear seemed to rise to the surface again, and Jesse was screaming at the hybrid, delivering wild punches. None of them had any real power behind them though, and the hybrid simply lifted his gun hand to press the barrel against Jesse's temple.

"Remember who did this to you, boy. Remember!"

Jesse's eyes were wide and pleading as the hybrid's finger tightened on the trigger. Death had never been a reality before, even with all that was going on around him. Because it was _him_, there must always be a way out. Death could strike other people, but no one ever thinks it's going to strike them.

When the gun went off he felt nothing, except a terrible numbing feeling. Somehow, feeling nothing was scaring him more than the pain would. He didn't want to die in pain, but neither did he want to die feeling nothing at all.

The world seemed to have frozen, the hybrid's smile leering at him. The hand that was holding him up slid slowly from his shirt, and he stumbled backwards. He didn't feel feint or weak, and that scared him even more, as his hands shot up to his head, feeling for the wound that he knew was there.

Before he could find it though, the hybrid in front of him, still frozen, toppled forwards, into the dust.

Jesse paused, confused. The world had started working again, and he could see the hybrid twitching where he lay. Jesse glanced up and the next image he saw brought great relief, but also more fear.

Tom was standing atop the truck, arm outstretched, a gun resting in his hand. If Tom's here, Jesse thought, everything will be all right, because Tom knows what we're up against. But there was also fear mixed in with the hope. What had Tom taken from the hybrids? This couldn't be about that night on the quay. None of the hybrids were that organised or this loyal to the cause. It had to be personal. Jesse knew that Tom was dangerous and was sure that he'd do anything to protect his family.

Tom was focused on the hybrid writhing in the dust. He leapt down from the truck, wincing slightly. Jesse could see a deep cut running across his leg, ripping his right trouser leg at the knee, as well as several bruises covering his face and arms.

Jesse was still half bent over, hands lifted to his face, as Tom seized the hybrid by the scruff of the neck, lifting him up, and slamming him into the truck. Jesse winced as the metal cut into the man's back.

"What do you want?" Tom had abandoned his controlled anger, Jesse thought. He was angry now and was letting it show. When the hybrid didn't answer, Tom backhanded him across the face. Despite this the hybrid was still smirking at him.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Don't you see that?"

"What do you want?" Tom punctuated each word by slamming the man into the truck.

"We got what..." The man coughed. Jesse could see the gunshot wound, right above his heart. "...we came for."

"What?" The shout made several birds take flight. Jesse was surprised they hadn't all fled long ago.

"Revenge." The hybrid hissed the word and Jesse felt a wave of revulsion overcome him as he looked at this animal. "Don't you see what we've done?" The hybrid moved an arm upwards, only to have it pinned to his side by Tom, but both he and Jesse looked automatically the way the hybrid had been pointing.

The world seemed to stop again, but only for a second, as both he and Tom were across the leafy floor and at Mariel's side in seconds. Tom shook her gently, and then harder, when there was no response. Jesse could feel the tears covering his cheeks as he called to her, desperate for her to wake up.

* * *

Mariel felt like her chest was about to implode. There seemed to be something on it, pressuring it, pushing it downwards. Only she didn't have any trouble breathing, or was she even breathing? She couldn't tell.

More shouts reached out to her from the dark, insistent in their noise. There was a hand on her face and she automatically moved towards it, her head lolling to the side.

There was silence for a moment and then the shouts renewed, getting louder and louder, even though all she wanted to do was sleep.


	16. Lying To The Truth

Tom was desperately shaking Mariel. He knew, somewhere in the mass of thoughts and emotions that were attacking him, that he should check her over, but all he could see was one of the most important people in the world, unconscious. He couldn't think straight.

When her head moved he thought he would pass out himself from relief. Instead, he focused himself, and called out to her again.

* * *

She could recognise the voices now. Jesse and Tom. She remembered what had happened. Oh my god, she thought, I've been shot. The thought seemed to push her out of the blackness, even though she had no idea why. This was exactly the opposite of what should be happening; what she'd been told would happen in med school. She supposed no one could ever get it right though, as the people who write the text books usually haven't been in the situations themselves.

Light seemed to be moving beneath her eye lids, pushing its way in, insistent and real. The world began to appear, not blurry, but flat and 2D looking, nothing like the way it was in the movies. She could see Tom and Jesse, crowded around her, looks of relief and worry on their faces.

"Where does it hurt, Mare?" Tom was holding onto her shoulder like a life line and, as she tried to sit up, he pushed her back down. "Don't move, all right?"

Mariel lifted her right hand gingerly and felt along her left side and hip. She could feel the blood spreading from a wound in her left thigh. She didn't know how the hybrid had missed anything vital, but she was thankful for it.

"I'm all right." She went to sit up again, and this time Tom helped her, supporting her by the shoulder. As he pulled her gently to her feet she saw the hybrid in the white scream mask, leaning against the truck. He wasn't moving and she could see blood pouring from a wound above his heart. He was obviously dead.

The mask had slipped slightly and she could see a young man underneath, a smile frozen on his face, designer stubble covering his chin.

Both Jesse and Tom were supporting her, but she pulled away from them and limped over to the hybrid, pulling the mask away from his face completely. Both Jesse and Tom followed her, Jesse looking at the hybrid with undisguised hostility, Tom looking round for the others, gun still held strongly in his hand.

"Tom?" At the sound of her voice he turned back to her, placing a hand on her shoulder again.

"Are you okay?"

She couldn't believe it... but she had just seen the proof. Would he lie to her?

"What did they want?"

Tom looked torn for a moment, although it could be that he was thinking, before he replied.

"I don't know. They should all be back at the town."

"Tom..." Jesse was looking at her funnily now. She could see his brain trying to work out what she was doing. Because, rightly, she should be happy that Tom just saved them, worrying about him, and being all smiles. Tom thought she should be as well, Mariel saw, as his eyes betrayed his nervousness. "What did they want?" Please don't lie to me again, Mariel thought.

Tom swallowed, looking at the hybrid, and the mask lying on the ground, before answering her.

"I don't know."

Mariel felt the first few tears run down her cheeks. Jesse was at her side in an instant, and yet Tom remained where he was, even dropping his hand off her shoulder. Looking into his eyes, she could tell he knew that she knew what he had done, but was begging her to just let it pass. But she couldn't. She just couldn't.

* * *

The cage rang with his roars. The see-through glass shook with the force of his blows, as four men and two women watched nonchalantly from across the room. Lights dotted the walls, all shining bright and unforgiving. They never went out, keeping the occupant awake at all times.

The spectators carried clip boards and every few seconds one of them would note down something, before returning to their staring of the being throwing himself into the cage walls.

Next to one of the men hung a cordless phone. When it rang, the being in the cage paused and listened intently, before renewing his attempts to escape. The man next to the phone answered and listened for a few seconds, before answering with a clipped "affirmative" and hanging up the phone.

He nodded to his colleagues.

"Begin the experiment."

A few seconds later the screaming stopped.

* * *

Dave was struggling with the hybrid again. Having watched his fellow be shot, after shooting Mariel, the hybrid that had Dave had turned and run, seeming to be annoyed that Dave could only manage a normal pace.

At the moment they were crashing through the bushes, and all Dave could think of was that Mariel had been shot. He had never known her very well, but she was Russell's ex, and he felt he knew her simply because of the number of times Russell had talked about her.

They shot into a small clearing, and Dave redoubled his efforts to get away, as he smelt the sea air. The hybrid, however, ran onwards, dropping his pace slightly as they neared the beach.

As Dave was dragged from the trees he spied another man with a gun, and had a brief moment of hope dashed as the gun that had been covering the hybrid that was holding him swung back towards Rose, who was standing all alone in the middle of the beach, looking terrified.

The second hybrid, the one pointing the gun at Rose, snapped at his companion. "Don't do that! I almost shot you!"

"Ryan's dead. That bastard killed him!"

"I think you mean hero." Dave spat, before wondering how he'd managed to say that, with two angry hybrids facing him.

The hybrid covering Rose snarled and moved towards him. The second one ripped off his balaclava and held him; it was obvious they were going to give him a beating. Dave waited until the second one was within range before falling to the floor, taking one of the hybrids with him, and kicking out at the other, sending the gun spinning away.

"Run, Rose!"

He watched as Rose turned and ran towards the trees, away from the water. He felt one of the hybrids latch onto him and haul him to his feet, while the other scrabbled after the gun.

Rose was still a good twenty metres away from the tree line when the gun was retrieved. Dave couldn't move, the hybrid having decided it was easier to hold him down if he was face down in the sand. Craning his neck back, Dave could see the second hybrid take careful aim at Rose.

He looked back at Rose, opening his mouth to call out a warning. But before he could he saw the second hybrid drop the gun to his side, smiling. Looking at the tree line in front of Rose, Dave could see the shape of a man moving out of the trees and onto the breach.

Rose, focusing on not falling over on the uneven sand, didn't see the man, and ran into him, at full speed. The man didn't even react, and Dave felt another wave of hope wash away as he recognised the strength, now something he was all too familiar with, as something only a hybrid could have.

Rose bounced off the man and landed at his feet, in the sand. Dave still couldn't see the man's face, as it was shrouded in the shadows of the trees, but the hybrids either side of Dave had smiles on their faces, though the one who had bought Dave here looked slightly puzzled.

The man standing over Rose moved forward slowly. The smiles of the hybrids surrounding Dave only faltered when the man ignored Rose and continued walking towards them. When he stepped out of the shadows Dave felt the hope rekindled as the hybrids began shouting and the one with the gun raised it threateningly.

"Stay where you are!"

The man continued his walk, stopping a few metres short of them, when the hybrid cocked his gun. He was relatively anonymous still, Dave thought, with the sunglasses he wore blocking any attempt to see into the man's eyes.

Unlike the two hybrids, who were focused on the unidentified man, Dave was worrying about Rose, who was still lying in the sand where she had fallen, looking at the newcomer with fear.

As Dave watched, two more men became clear cut figures, stepping out of the forest, moving towards Rose. He struggled for all he was worth, but the hybrid holding him down was too strong. He watched, helpless, as Rose was seized by the two men and carried away, screaming.

The man, still standing in front of Dave and his two guards, spoke.

"You may leave without any harm coming to you."

"We want the girl." The one with the gun brandished it.

"You have this human." Dave found himself being pointed at.

"We need the girl. He won't come for this one."

Who won't come, Dave thought? Tom? Russell?

"You have the man." The man repeated.

The hybrid with the gun moved forward, threateningly. "Bring the girl back, or I'll blow your brains out!" Either fortunately or unfortunately, Dave couldn't decide which, that was the last thing that hybrid did. A rattle of machine gun fire originated from the tree line where Rose had been taken, and the hybrid fell silently.

The man turned to the other hybrid, who was shaking, looking at the corpse of his companion. "You may leave without any harm coming to you." The man repeated and, as Dave found himself being hauled up by his shirt and pulled after the retreating hybrid, he could see the man smiling a prefect white smile, which reflected the sun.

* * *

Rose was crying. She had been manhandled into the back of a military truck, and it was too much like the truck she had been in on that night on the quay. The only other occupant now, however, was the sunglasses man, who sat opposite her, watching her every move.

At first she had tried to escape out the back of the truck, but the man with the sunglasses had tied her to the seat, and now she couldn't even lift her hand to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"We will treat you with respect and dignity." The man with the sunglasses said.

Rose couldn't focus her tired mind to work out what half those words meant, still tugging at her chains.

"No harm will come to you." The man continued. "For as long as you are in our care. You are the bait for the trap. Nothing more."

Rose continued to cry. Why did this have to happen here? She had never been good at understanding why bad things happened to the people she knew. She had never been good at understanding why bad things happened at all.

"You will be required to identify someone. Can you do that?" For the question the man's tone changed from hard and cold to warm and gentle. He slid off his seat and unlocked the chains, as the back of the truck had now been locked. Rose rubbed at her eyes.

"Can you do that?" The man repeated.

Rose sniffed. "Who?"

The man smiled. "You'll know her when you see her."


	17. The New Order

Jesse wasn't sure what was happening. His mom had ripped off the dead hybrid's mask and then started to cry because Tom didn't know what they were doing here? It was only when, holding Mariel, Jesse glanced at Tom, who, strangely, wasn't helping Mariel, that he knew something was wrong. Tom was looking down at the ground, a kind of deep sadness radiating from him.

"How could you, Tom?" Mariel shouted at him. Jesse still didn't know what they were talking about. Tom looked like she just just hit him though.

"I was protecting--"

"Oh no, you don't." Mariel shook her head. "You can't just say that every time you don't want to take responsibility for something."

"I mean it." Now Tom was shouting. "I had to do what I did because you were right."

Mariel's face clouded for a second. Then it cleared and she continued. "You're not pinning it on me either. You didn't go off and do it just because I told you it would happen."

"No." Tom agreed. "I did as soon as I could. Before I spoke to you. Because I knew what would happen if I didn't."

"But how could you have done _that_?"

"This is why I didn't tell you. I knew you'd react like this."

Mariel was about to reply when Jesse decided he'd had enough and stepped between them. They seemed to notice him for the first time. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?" He looked from Mariel to Tom. Mariel turned away, still crying. Tom gritted his teeth.

"Mare..."

"No." She turned back and shook her head. "Not this time. I won't forgive you."

Jesse was about to ask again, or choose who to comfort, Mariel, who was still crying, or Tom, who again looked like she'd hit him, when the outside world seemed to register again. "Shit!"

"Jesse!" Through all of it, Jesse thought, the fact that his mom still told him off for swearing was a comfort, though he couldn't worry about it now.

Before he could say what he was thinking, however, Kira, who was standing behind him, and didn't, strangely, even have a look of someone who was wondering what was going on, spoke quietly. "Dad. Where's Rose?"

The question changed everything. Mariel panicked. "Rose!" she shouted.

Jesse felt an unforgiving sense of deja-vu as they all began to shout, so reminiscent of that night when the hurricane had come.

There was no reply to their shouts, and Tom set off suddenly through the trees. Jesse automatically followed him, supporting Mariel as he did so. He still didn't understand what they'd been arguing about, but there were more important things to worry about than whatever Tom had done.

* * *

Dave was practically running on his own now, though if he'd tried to move from the hybrid's side, as he had once, the hybrid would clamp onto him like an eel, and not let go for at least half an hour.

It was probably a shorter period of time than that though, Dave thought. It felt like they'd been running for hours, though that was just because both of them wanted to get away from the machine guns.

His head wound had stopped bleeding and, as was the norm with most head wounds, there was a lot of blood and not much damage. It wasn't helped though, when the hybrid skidded to a stop, taking hold of Dave's arm to stop him running on, and sending him crashing to the ground in the process.

Dave sat up, coughing and panting, glad of the chance to breathe. Looking up at the hybrid, he saw wide, searching eyes, and a real fear emanating from the man. It turned out, Dave thought, that the stronger you were, the more scared you were of dying.

"Why did you attack us?"

The hybrid spared him a glance before returning his focus to the trees, searching for something that Dave couldn't see. "The man you trust your life to killed James."

Dave thought about this. "Who's James?"

The hybrid set his jaw, and it looked like he was trying not to cry. "I'm going to kill that murderer." He turned to Dave. "Then I'm going to kill you, and anyone he's ever loved. The first casualties of the New Order will be his family. So everyone knows what our rules of war are."

* * *

They had been moving through the wood for a good ten minutes when they reached the beach. Jesse was still supporting Mariel, although Kira was helping, and Tom moved forward to look at the man lying in the sand.

As Tom reached him he saw the man was a hybrid, riddled with bullet wounds. He checked the surrounding area, but there was no one, no enemies, no Dave, and no Rose. He had to keep moving though, had to keep doing _something_. Because if he stopped Mariel would begin again, and he couldn't face the fact that she wasn't going to forgive him this time.

There were tracks leading away from the body in two directions and, as he focused his tired mind so he would know which one to take, he sensed Kira ease Mariel onto the sand and make her way over.

Tom ignored Kira when she stopped behind him and asked, in a low voice, "Are you all right, Dad?"

Jesse was still with Mariel, crouched down, and asked her a different question. "What did Tom do, Mom?"

Mariel simply shook her head, looking at Tom like he was a stranger, although she had had a doubt, when he had told her what had happened, that he'd not been telling the whole truth. She had let it pass once because she hadn't known for sure, but now she did, and she couldn't find it in her heart to forgive him, even though he had been right for doing it.

Tom had decided which way Rose had gone, and made his way back to Mariel and Jesse, pulling Kira along with him gently.

"Rose went that way." Tom pointed to his right.

Mariel took a deep breath. "All right. What are we waiting for?" She rose, leaning against Jesse.

Tom bit his lip. "Dave went that way." He pointed to left.

"Why would they separate?" Kira asked.

Jesse suddenly had a nasty thought. "How many of them were there?"

"I saw two." Tom replied. "One with a balaclava and the other with the scream mask."

"There was one without any mask." Mariel interjected. "He took Rose."

"Why didn't you stop him?" Maybe it was because of the argument, Tom thought. He never would have usually said that, and was relieved when Jesse got between him and Mariel, who was looking at him coldly.

"Look." Jesse looked back and forth between them. "I don't know what Tom did... but Rose is the one we have to rescue right now. And we won't be able to if you're fighting, yeah?"

Tom found himself nodding, and before he could see if Mariel did the same he was walking off across the beach, towards the trees.

* * *

"How did he respond?"

"As hypothesised."

The owner of the first voice nodded, tapping his fingers against the remote control held in his fist. Where the first man sat, the second man stood, hands clasped behind his back. Both men were watching the television screen the remote belonged to. It showed a small room, three sides concrete, one clear glass. A single bed ran the back length of the cell, holding an unconscious man.

The first man spoke again. "Have you readied it for stage two?"

"Affirmative."

"Do we know where _he_ is?"

"Negative."

The first man shot the second. After doing so he leant back in his chair, pondering the man on the screen, before picking up the phone next to him, and waiting.

* * *

Sabrina heard the phone ring from outside her office and hurried in, locking the door behind her. She crossed to the desk and seated herself there, waiting for several seconds before picking up the phone, as if she wanted it to stop ringing before she got to it. "Yes, sir?"

"Send another one. Make sure this one can do their job, or it will be you I kill next."

* * *

Mariel was limping more and more now. Her leg hurt and, although she had tied a strip of her jacket around it, that didn't really suffice. They were getting deeper and deeper into the wood, but there was no sign of Rose, or anyone at all.

Tom was walking ahead of them, while Jesse and Kira were both supporting her. She couldn't sort the mass of emotions she felt for Tom right now. She couldn't even think about it.

Just as she was about to say she really needed a rest, Tom held up his hand, telling them to stop, and squatted down in the leaves, brushing away at them with his hand. A few seconds later he rose and made his way back to them.

"They got in a truck. We can't catch them."

Mariel felt frozen. Rose was out there, alone, because Dave had been taken somewhere else, and probably a prisoner of an insane hybrid, wanting revenge for something that he had every right to want revenge for.

"We can track them though, can't we?" Kira looked at Tom.

"When we get to the road, which way do we go then?" Tom looked empty. "I'm sorry."

"Well, that just doesn't cut it!" Mariel was screaming at him. She couldn't think of anything other than Rose. She couldn't lose Rose, not her. "This is your fault. Do something about it!"

"What am I meant to do?" Tom was quiet again, but it wasn't angry or frightening. He just looked defeated.

Mariel was sobbing outright now. This was meant to be her responsibility. Rose was her little girl. She was meant to be able to protect her children. She sank to the floor, ignoring the pain in her leg. Jesse was at her side at once, hugging her. "It's all right, Mom. We'll find her. She'll be all right."

Mariel looked up at Tom, who was just standing there. As weak as ever, she thought bitterly. "You bastard! You've killed Rose!" Mariel surged to her feet, but didn't get two paces before Kira had stopped her from hitting Tom.

Behind her, Jesse had seemingly come to a decision. He faced Tom and spoke. "Tom... what did you do?"

Tom closed his eyes and looked away from them. He had to pull this back together before it fell apart even more. He couldn't make Mariel forgive him, but he could make damn sure she didn't hate him. He took a deep breath, but was interrupted before he'd even started speaking by Jesse, this time shouting the question.

"Tom! What. Did. You. Do?

"I killed them, okay?" Tom was beyond caring what people thought of him. If he had to push his family away to save them, so be it.

"Who?" Jesse screamed.

Tom bit his lip harshly to stop himself crying, and turned back to him, struggling to keep in control. "I killed them, Jesse. Those..." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before continuing. "I killed those... three..." He looked right at Jesse. "I killed those three teenagers that tried to kill Kira in the garden." He blinked. "Cal, Rachael, and James."


	18. Note

Hey there, everyone. :) Sorry I've been absent for so long and double sorry that this isn't an actual chapter. It's more of an update, to let everyone know what the hell's going on and why I haven't been writing recently. Life has, let's say, suddenly woken up and decided that I've spent far too much time sitting around being lazy and I now have to damn well stand up and have everything life can offer thrown at me at once.

I know 'my life's really busy right now' is a popular excuse for people who don't want to continue writing, but writing is something that I love and I have every intention of finishing the stories I've posted here, for both myself and all my readers. I promise.

Thank you for being so understanding. You lot really are the best. :D


End file.
